Thank you pastor for having me in your
church.
And in our churches, we start by saying,
you know, praise God and you reply back,
Amen.
So praise God.
Oh, that's good.
It's better than in the morning.
It's getting good.
Okay, can I say it again?
Praise God.
All right, I'm fired up now.
Well, it's good to be with you here.
And I really enjoyed my time here in
Regina.
And as I'm bringing my testimony, I pray
that God will work in your heart.
It's not a show.
It's not just a story.
But my heart desire is to bring you
and take you to a prayer life, especially
to pray for our Muslim friends and Muslim
neighbors.
They need Christ.
It's just that we need him.
Amen.
Well, I always kind of make some of
the things that happened to me when I
came to Canada.
I didn't speak any English.
And I keep telling the people I know
only two words.
Yes, and no.
That's all.
So and I was confused between both of
them.
In fact, they hold me in the airport
for a long time.
Because they will ask me if my name
is Wajdi.
I'll say no, what's your name is Wajdi.
And so and they get confused.
You know, I just pick up one of
them, you know, I know two.
So the easiest one, I'll just answer it.
Anyway, there is a student named Brian.
He got so felt sorry about me.
Because all my mark at the college was
F.
I see people doing that.
Maybe I'll go a little bit up.
Okay, I don't like to go up.
But I see some people doing like this.
So I don't.
Okay, my light is enough, isn't it?
I'm just kidding.
Oh, yeah, I didn't want you.
Yeah, I didn't want you to have a
stiff neck after that, you know, because I'll
go down a little bit here.
Well, so because my mark was all F
at the end of the first year, and
those who heard it, they've been following me.
I hope you don't get tired of my
joke.
But so I thought F stands for a
full mark.
And then they told me I failed.
So Brian felt sorry for me.
And he kind of offered to help me
and tutor me and I didn't know what
tutoring mean and all these things.
Anyway, he took me to his place and
introduced me to his wife.
Darling, this is Wajdi, Wajdi.
This is my wife.
And I was there.
Darling, we need tea and all these kind
of things.
And after we ended, I thought that her
name is Darling.
So as I left, I told her, thank
you, darling.
So and he never invited me to his
place anymore.
So he said, let us just study outside.
Well, I'm originally from Sudan.
And from Sudan, I'm from the very northern
of Sudan is from a desert area.
My tribe is from there.
And my father, his business is a camel
trader.
To put it in a kind of perspective
to North America, he owned like an enterprise
rental.
But we don't rent cars.
We rent camels.
And we sell camels.
So this is my father's work.
And I used to have my little camel.
I chased him and sometimes he chased me
back.
And this was my childhood.
And the other things happened actually.
I memorized the Koran when I was six
years old.
The whole Koran from cover to cover.
Put it to perspective, your Bible is 66
books.
The Koran is 114 books.
I'm not smart.
I'm not genius.
But they take us to the Koranic school.
They call it halwa.
From sunrise to sunset, we sit in a
circle.
And the teacher will sit in the middle
and we recite the Koran.
And we repeat after him.
Let me pause and pray.
Father God, I pray for your spirit in
this place.
And I pray that your presence will be
known.
Father God, I pray for strength from you.
And empower from you.
Thank you Jesus.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
So we were sitting in a circle and
he would recite and we would recite after
him.
And this is how we memorize the Koran.
And we go to the school from sunrise
to sunset.
And in the area where we were, we
don't have shops, we don't have anything.
They will go to nearby city to sell
some of our camels and cattle and bring
us good.
One time, the tribe leader were late.
And we were wondering what's happened to them.
So when they came back, they introduced something
new to us.
Why not our children go to learn how
to read and to write?
So they were a little bit worried if
we leave to the city, we will not
come back again.
So they choose only those who memorize the
Koran.
And I was one of them.
The journey, the last night, our journey before
we start going to the city, they gather
us together and they give us advice about
the city.
And what we are going to see in
the city, they kind of tell us how
building look like because in that area we
didn't have really buildings.
And how cars look like, they will tell
us there is this big box with four
wheels, these cars, and then there is, they
call it a rope.
You will see a rope in the wall.
This is electricity, don't touch that rope.
And until now, I call it rope.
So as they were introducing us to the
city, we couldn't kind of imagine what they
are telling us.
It's something we cannot really picture it.
So I didn't pay much attention to what
they are saying.
And then suddenly, our elders, the biggest elders
of the tribe, he stood up and he
have a long stick and he shook it
in front of our faces.
And he said this, be aware of the
Christian.
Burn them before they burn you.
And what he meant that the Christian, they
are not going to hell, but they are
the firewood of hell.
Until that time, I never saw a Christian.
So when I heard this, a great anger
and hatred entered to my heart toward the
Christian.
And I said to myself, when I go
to the city, I am not going to
learn how to read or to write.
I am going to finish these Christians.
When I went to the city, between elementary
and high school, I was spelled out of
eight schools.
I will make a fight with the Christian,
I will cut their notes, I will make
a trouble, and they will just kick me
from the school and I will go to
another school and I will do the same
things.
Until I got to university.
In our country, the only place you have
a freedom of speech is the university.
You will say anything you like to say,
again is the government.
But the second you will step out of
campus, you will be arrested.
So I found there is a number of
political groups, they were there, I never saw
they existed.
And one of them, the communists.
So when I went there, they were recruiting
the new student.
And the closest organization I felt to join
and they were recruiting me is called the
Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood is kind of an equivalent
of these nice names you hear in the
news.
Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, I don't know if
you heard these nice names in the news.
This is part of them.
And their objective is to defend Islam and
the Quran.
So within four months, I became one of
their leaders.
Not all the Muslims memorized the Quran, so
they said they can learn something from me.
So I became their leader, and when I
was there, something else happened.
I met my Christian friend, who later on
led me to the Lord.
And he will come and tell me about
Jesus.
And every time he will tell me about
Jesus, I don't like to hear about Jesus
of the Bible.
I will beat him, I punish him literally.
Sometimes his nose or his mouth is running
blood because I don't want to hear about
the Jesus of the Bible.
It's not the same Jesus in the Quran.
So, one time he decided to bring a
preacher to the university.
To tell us if the Bible is the
word of God or not.
Muslims, they don't believe that the Bible is
the word of God.
When they organized it, they booked the smallest
lecture room at the university.
By the time the event got closer, they
went and they booked the biggest lecture room.
Because many students, they sign, they want to
know if the Bible is the word of
God or not.
And the majority there are Muslims.
We felt very threatened.
So we sent threat notes to the Christians,
this lecture has to be cancelled.
They never listened to us.
We sent them another threat notes.
And then we told them that this preacher
of yours, when he enters the university, the
first foot will step in will cut off
his leg.
They didn't listen to us.
Finally, we had our emergency meeting.
What are we going to do with these
Christians?
As we were sitting and thinking and a
lot of ideas, one idea came up and
he said, let us kill one of them.
When we heard this, all of us we
start to shout.
There is a shouting or there is a
word they say only in two kinds of
things.
Whether for prayer or whether for jihad, for
holy war.
And that word is called Allahu Akbar.
So all of us we shouted, that means
we agree, we are going to kill one
of the Christians.
And then they said, okay, who are we
going to kill?
They decided to kill my friend, the one
who is witnessing to me.
I am the one I start to shout
even louder.
Finally, I can get rid of him.
And then the third question, who is going
to do the killing?
In our culture, when you are having a
hard question, you cannot answer it.
You put your face in the ground.
So all of us we have our face
in the ground there.
And then one of us stood up and
said, why you don't do the killing?
So we lift up our head to see
where he is pointing.
He was pointing toward me.
I told him, sorry, I don't do any
killing.
He said, well, you are complaining about him.
I said, no, I am not going to
kill him.
Oh, he is your friend.
No, he is not my friend.
You became a Christian.
I said, no, I am not a Christian.
So they were doing this to me until
I agree I will kill him.
And then they start to recite some of
the scripture from the Quran, which is talking
about jihad and holy war.
Like it kind of excites you.
At that time, our country was very poor.
The electricity will go off by midnight except
hospital and government building.
So we said, okay, when the electricity will
go off, we will march to his room.
We are all staying in the dorm at
the university there.
And we will go to his room and
we will attack him there.
We waited for the electricity to go off.
I went and I picked a very heavy
metal stick.
My idea was I am going to break
every single bones in his body.
There were two people came to help me.
We went to his room.
We entered quiet.
And there was somebody laying there.
And suddenly, that anger and hatred entered to
my heart in my childhood, came back again.
And I start to beat him up.
I can hear his bones crashing.
Until he stopped moving.
The two who were helping me were holding
him.
They said, he is finished.
Let us get out of here.
There was a car there waiting for me.
And they took me off the campus.
And they hide me in one of the
places there.
The next day they came and they said,
well, we have a bad news.
I told them what is the bad news.
They said, the person that we beat up
last night, it was a wrong person.
And he is a Muslim.
And he is still alive.
And every time I think about it, I
left a paralyzed person in the world.
They said, now your job is to finish
two.
The paralyzed person and the Christian.
I told them, sorry, I cannot do it.
But go and take the responsibility for it.
When you hear from this kind of organization,
the suicide bomber and others like this, they
will not tell who did it.
But the whole organization will take the responsibility.
So I told them, can you go just
and take responsibility.
And it was in the news.
They said about the attack at the university.
And then I was free to go out.
I went back to the university.
I finished my study.
I studied commercial and economy.
And then I worked as an accountant in
a French company specialized in hotel and restaurant
and tourism for the Western people.
It's called Meridian.
I worked for them.
I was the accountant.
While I was working for them, it was
their anniversary.
And they invited all the representatives from all
over the world and the managers.
They have about 52 branches all over the
world.
One of them is from Saudi Arabia, from
Riyadh.
I said, oh, this is my opportunity now
to ask him if he will transform me
from Meridian Khartoum to Sudan, to Meridian Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia.
My idea wasn't to go to make money.
But I wanted to go there.
And once I arrive in Saudi Arabia, I'll
escape.
And I go to the holy site, Mecca,
and stay there.
And I look for the tomb of Muhammad.
And I will be there the rest of
my life.
And this is how I used to be
loyal to him.
The anniversary was there.
It was French style.
They were serving alcohol to the guests.
Alcohol is one of the biggest sins in
Islam.
They call it Akbarul Kabair, the biggest of
big.
We're not allowed to buy it, to sell
it, to touch it, or to drink it,
or to associate with it.
If you've done any of these, you'll be
considered unclean.
So while I was talking with a representative
from Saudi Arabia, the tray came by.
He picked a glass.
I picked one.
I didn't know it was alcohol.
I thought it was a juice.
So while I was talking to him, he
was drinking.
And he's a Muslim.
He's not supposed to drink.
So after that, I brought the glass close
to my mouth.
I was about to drink it, and I
smelled the alcohol.
I felt so offended.
I didn't know what to do.
Should I condemn him?
Should I preach him?
Yet I need a favor from him.
So I didn't know what to do.
So I just put the glass of alcohol,
and I left.
I went to my cousin, who is my
friend and was with me at the Muslim
Brotherhood.
And he was surprised to see me early.
And he said, what happened?
Why you're early?
So I told him exactly what happened, and
he jumped away from me.
He said, you're unclean.
I told him, no.
I didn't drink it.
He said, no, you hold it.
I said, well, I didn't know.
I thought it was a juice.
He said, no, you're unclean.
Our weekend there is Thursday, Friday.
So most of our weddings and parties and
all these things happen on Thursday, because Friday
is a holiday and is a day of
prayer for the Muslim.
So I told him, tomorrow is Friday.
Can you give the announcement in the mosque
on my behalf?
The mosque I belong to is only for
the Muslim Brotherhood, not anybody else allowed to
come to that mosque.
And the announcement we give is not like
your beautiful announcement you hear in your church.
If the president of the country said anything
against us, we need to teach him a
lesson.
Whether we go out for a riot, whether
we burn some of his cars, or do
anything violently so he will not touch our
group.
And this is the announcement I used to
give.
So we went there, and in the mosque
we don't sit in chairs, we sit on
the ground.
And those who are participating and some of
the leaders are in the front there.
And so he gave all the announcements, and
he said, there is one announcement that is
not written here.
Let us kick out all the Westerners from
our country.
Because they are corrupting our young people.
And they are bringing alcohol to the country.
When they heard that, they did that shout
I told you about earlier.
He got very excited.
And he said that the first example of
this, and he mentioned my name.
In Islam, there is three stages of faith.
If you see something wrong, and you are
a very good Muslim, according to the Islam,
you act by your hand.
That means violently.
The second stage is to speak loudly if
you see something wrong.
The third one, if you are outnumbered like
I was in that anniversary, I will just
keep quiet and walk away.
The mosque I attended, as I told you,
all Muslim brotherhood.
They are all strong Muslims.
So when they heard that I did something
wrong, all of them they want to suppress
their faith on me.
That afternoon I was beaten by 800 people.
I fainted.
They took me and they threw me out
of the mosque.
My cousin even didn't touch me.
He went and told my family, they came
and collected me.
When I got back to conscious, I asked
what happened.
And they remind me what happened.
I went to our leader, I told him
why did you do that to me.
He smiled and he said, aren't you glad
we didn't kill you?
But the punishment is still there.
For 40 days you are not allowed to
come here.
For 40 days you are not allowed to
touch the Holy Quran.
For 40 days you are not allowed to
say the name of Allah in your lips,
God.
For 40 days you are not allowed to
pray or to do any religious activities because
you are unclean.
It is a very harsh punishment for a
religious person.
So I didn't know what to do at
the beginning.
The company I work at is called Western.
They have the second floor, there is a
big hall there.
And they rent it for something called disco.
And we hear that loud music up, but
we don't know what they are doing in
this disco.
So one of our colleagues, he goes there
from time to time.
So I asked him if he will take
me there.
He said, no, you are a Muslim brotherhood.
I told him, don't worry, I am on
a holiday.
You can just take me there.
So he took me up there and I
kind of enjoyed what I saw.
And then we are not allowed to go
to theater or movie.
So he took me to the theaters.
And then to parties and all these things.
So he started to introduce me or kind
of introduced me to the city life, which
I enjoyed.
When the 40 days finished, I am supposed
to go and to wash myself in a
certain way.
And I will go to the mosque.
I will bow two times to greet the
mosque.
I will bow two times to greet Allah.
I bow two times to greet Muhammad.
I bow two times to greet the Quran.
I will do about, in the group I
came from, about 42 bowing.
I said, no, I am not going there.
So I went back to Meridian, where the
western people are.
And I went to the place where they
have alcohol.
I told them, can you give me a
bottle of alcohol?
He said, what do you want from it?
I said, just bring it out.
So they brought it out for me.
And I held it.
I said, another 40 days.
So whenever the 40 days finish, I will
go and renew it.
40 after 40 after 40 after 40.
I driven away from Islam.
I became a very corrupt person.
It came a time I didn't like myself.
But I didn't have anybody to claim, except
God.
If He forgave me, and He forgave me
that time, I would not be where I
am now.
So whoever will ask me, I will just
blame God.
One time I was sitting at my work.
And the doorman came and he said, there
is somebody outside there who would like to
see you.
So I went to see who is there.
It was my Christian friend, the one I
am supposed to kill.
I told him, what do you want?
I thought he is looking for a job.
He said, no, I have been asking about
you and they told me you work here.
I just came to see how you are
doing.
And then he told me I am changed.
If you are part of the Muslim Brotherhood
or a very religious person in Islam, when
you talk Arabic, you talk a very high
classic Arabic, like the Quran.
So I was speaking a normal Arabic.
And I was dressed normally.
I used to have a very big ugly
beard.
And I shaved it all.
So he said, what happened to you?
I told him exactly what happened to me.
And then I told him I am looking
for forgiveness.
He said, there is one person who can
forgive you.
I told him who?
He said Jesus and he went like a
little bit back before I hit him.
And that was the first time he mentioned
the Jesus of the Bible and I didn't
hit him.
And he told me a story about Jesus
forgiving sin.
I loved it.
I told him can you come back again
and tell me more about this Jesus.
And from time to time he will come
and tell me a story from the Bible
about Jesus forgiving sin.
One time he came to me and told
me this.
I never heard it before at that time.
He told me that God asked him to
ask me to go with him to church.
I told him God asked you to ask
me to go with you to church?
He said yeah and he was very serious
and convincing.
I said okay I will go with you.
And I never been in the church at
that time.
I was scared to go to church.
We have a lot of stories about church
and it is almost like a haunted house.
So we were scared to go inside.
So I went with him and I was
scared and I got inside the church.
And I grabbed the first seat close to
the door.
I said if this Christian starts to do
any weird things I am out of there.
So I sat in the back and there
was nothing.
The only thing was a cross in front
of the building and far away from me
so I am doing okay.
And they were singing and I didn't understand
what they were singing about.
And then one of them stood up and
asked for a prayer request.
Later on I found out I was in
a prayer meeting.
One of the students he said pray for
me.
My teacher failed me because I am a
Christian.
Will you pray that I may love him?
Another one he said they gave me the
dirt to work at the company because I
am a Christian.
Will you pray that I may love them?
And all the prayer requests like this and
ended by may I love them.
And as you know that Sudan how they
treat Christians like a second class.
I was sitting there and I said no
way.
This people in front of me one of
the two things.
Whether they are angels or something up here
is not right.
And then I remember about this God you
know talking to him talking to me to
go there.
I said oh God want me to go
to help them.
So when they finish I get to learn
they are really finished.
I walked to the front and I told
him what are you talking about?
He said what is it?
I told him well that teacher let us
beat him up.
That company let us burn it.
And I was giving them kind of ideas.
And he said sorry we don't do this
kind of things here.
I said why are you scared?
He said no.
I said I can train you.
I have been trained.
He said no we don't do these things
here.
I said why?
And he opened the Bible and show me
the sermon in the mount.
Love your enemy and pray for those who
persecuted you.
I told him who said this?
He said Jesus.
I told him the prophet?
He said yeah.
I told him can I have this book?
I am allowed to have it.
He said yeah.
So he gave it to me.
I was wearing my Arabic clothes the white
robe the long one and I hide it
inside so nobody will see I have a
Bible with me.
And I went back.
And I waited for the electricity to get
off.
They cut off the electricity.
And I got a small gasoline light we
call it fanous you know like a candle.
And I opened the Bible.
And he marked where he read for me.
Because I want to know what else Jesus
said.
I was reading the Bible until I was
interrupted around 4 o'clock in the morning
by the call of prayer.
If you have been in Middle East or
if you have been in Islamic country there
is something called a call of prayer.
They wake up everybody in the morning to
go to pray.
So I was interrupted at that time.
One thing just took in my mind.
And I kept asking all the Christians.
How does the Christian practice this book?
This book is very hard to practice.
It speaks about forgiveness, love, holiness and peace.
I start to go from church to church
from a Christian to Christian.
How do you practice this book?
They give me all kind of answer I
didn't accept.
Finally I went by a church.
I went inside I found a pastor.
I told him how do you practice this
book?
He said oh I heard about you.
And I was waiting for you.
And he start to tell me how to
practice this book.
And then he told me this.
Unless you receive Christ in your heart.
And allow his spirit to work in your
life.
You cannot practice what is written even us
Christian.
He was so convinced me he is about
to convert me.
So I have to run away before he
will convert me.
A few months went by.
My friend came back again and invite me
to his church.
I told him did he talk to you
again?
He said no.
We have a big lecture.
And the one is going to tell us
about how to practice this book.
Later on I found that big lecture was
a revival meeting.
So I went to the church and the
church was packed.
There is no way you can get in.
The only way we stood outside under one
of the window listening to the preacher.
I don't know if you have this experience
or not or you heard about it.
The preacher kind of like talking to me
personally.
After they finished we walked back.
It is about two hours walking toward the
city.
In Sudan we have this big river Nile.
And we have a bridge over the river
Nile.
And we walked until we got to the
bridge there.
And in the middle of the bridge because
we were talking all about the sermon.
We reviewed the whole sermon the two hours.
We reviewed over and over and over and
over and over.
And every single sentence we just reviewed.
So in the middle of the bridge my
friend looked at me and said, Why you
don't just do it?
I told him to do what?
He said to become a Christian.
I said no, no, no, no.
You understand me wrong.
Now I get to learn your Jesus is
the Jesus of miracles.
And he performed a lot of miracles.
Right?
He said yeah.
I told him if he can perform this
miracle right now.
If he will bring the sun and put
it in my right hand.
And the moon in my left hand.
And I can see both of them in
my hand.
I will never convert.
I born Muslim.
I live Muslim.
I will die Muslim.
Very strong statement.
Right?
But inside me I was scared.
He said there is one person like to
see you.
I told him you arrange it.
I will go with you.
He did arrange it.
And we went to this house and have
a lot of rooms.
And one of the room we knock.
And we get in.
And there is an old lady sitting there.
The minute I lay my eyes on her.
Every bad word.
Every curse I know in my life.
I just give it to her so strongly.
I told her I know who you are.
She is from the same tribe I came
from.
We have.
We used.
We don't have it anymore.
Like our tribe.
We used to have some mark in our
face to know what tribe you coming from.
So I knew her and they told us
about her.
I told her you brought shame to our
tribe.
What happened to her.
We used to have a doctor coming from
the city.
Looking after the Bedouin and the people outside
in the desert.
And he is a Christian.
And she was helping him like a nurse.
And he will tell her every time a
story from the Bible.
And she will tell the story to the
tribe.
And they didn't like it.
They will try to silence her but they
couldn't.
At the end they decided to burn her
alive.
And they did.
She was 14 years old.
And that doctor actually came and rescued her
and took her to the city.
He looked after her.
At the end he didn't know what to
do with her after she get well.
He married her.
It is allowed in our country.
Anyway.
So.
After she finished.
Very slowly.
She lifted the blanket from her leg.
And all what I saw.
A burning flesh.
Sticking to her bones.
I told her why.
She said I am willing.
To be burned for Jesus.
I kept thinking about her.
And now this is an Arabic man thinking.
I said.
If a woman can do it.
A man like me cannot do it.
So finally I went to my friend.
And I told him.
I am ready to become a Christian.
He started to jump up and down.
And saying praise God.
Hallelujah.
And he was so excited.
And I didn't know what he is doing.
I thought this is maybe the way the
Christian they do it.
I thought can you slow down.
Tell me which foot to lift first.
And he said no.
They give up on you.
In fact the church they told us not
to bring you anymore.
Because you are disturbing them too much.
And you ask too much questions.
After that he gave me a small talk.
And then he said.
Do you trust me?
I told him yes I trust you.
He asked me to kneel down.
And I knelt down.
And then he asked me to close my
eyes.
Which I did.
And then he asked me to ask Jesus.
To forgive me.
And I asked Jesus to forgive me.
And then he asked me to ask Jesus
to come to my heart.
And I asked Jesus to come to my
heart.
And then he asked me to ask Jesus
to be my helper.
I asked Jesus to be my helper.
And then he asked me to say Amen.
And then he asked me to open my
eyes.
I told him no I am waiting for
an earthquake.
I changed from Islam to Christianity.
Something has to happen.
He said no just open your eyes.
I told him if my skin color change.
I have to be whether light or dark.
Because the Christian in my country.
Whether they are dark and light.
They call us the brown people.
We are the Muslim people.
I said I have to become one of
them.
He said just open your eyes.
I opened my eyes nothing happened.
I still look the same.
But when things happened.
A great peace entered to my heart.
And I want to assure you.
I have this peace until now.
My life started to change.
My family and my people started to recognize
it.
They thought I came back to my senses.
They asked me to go to the mosque
to pray.
I told them no I am not going
back to the mosque.
They said to pray at home.
I will not pray at home.
They will ask me to do a lot
of things.
I refused.
Finally I told them I became a Christian.
My father slapped me in my face.
And he said get out you are not
my son.
I went to my friend.
I told him I am ready to get
out of Christianity.
Can you tell me how to get out
of it?
He said he brought the Bible.
He said I will show it to you.
He opened the letter of Paul.
How many times he was beaten and put
in prison.
And all the things happened to him.
And then he went to the book of
Acts.
When the stone is tough on us.
And then he went to the gospel.
Where they put Jesus in the cross.
And then he asked me.
Are you greater than any one of these?
I told him no.
He said welcome to Christianity.
At that time we were governed by the
Islamic law in our country.
It is against the government.
And it is against Islam.
To change your religion from Islam to Christianity.
They arrested me.
And they were trying to convince me.
To get out of Christianity.
At the end when they couldn't convince me.
They asked me to stretch my hand like
this and start counting.
I didn't know what I am going to
be counting for.
And then I was counting my two's.
In my hand.
They were taking punch out of me in
my mouth.
They kept me there for a while.
Until my court time.
I went to the court.
And I met other two.
Muslim they were converted to Christianity.
We were sitting there.
And the judge he said well I don't
want to hear your story.
I don't want a counselor.
I don't want anybody.
To defend you or anything.
It is only one thing.
Renounce Christianity.
Embrace Islam.
You are free to go.
I was about to stand up.
One of them hold me down.
He said just sit down.
So the judge said it number of time.
And we didn't move.
So he left us in the court.
To think about it.
When he left the courtroom.
They looked at me.
They said you are new.
I said yeah.
He said well we don't have too much
time to explain to you.
But let us pray that three of us
will be in the same cell.
They were praying and I was looking at
them praying.
And they finished their prayer.
And we waited for the judge and then
he came back.
He said anyone ready to renounce Christianity and
embrace Islam.
We didn't move.
He started to scream and shout at us.
The same sentence.
With anger he said remove them.
Take them.
They took us to one of the awful
roughest prison in Sudan.
God has answered that prayer.
Three of us were in the same cell.
That cell was so special to me.
Because inside that cell I had my first
Bible study.
I get to learn all what I need
to know about Jesus.
They will take us at night and they
will beat us and they will do a
lot of things to us.
And we cannot wait to come back so
we can continue the Bible study.
It was the longest seven months I ever
have in my life.
Every day we were beat and every day
we were tortured and all kind of things.
At the end the sentence came.
That three of us will be executed according
to the Islamic law.
At that time the country was governed by
the Islamic law.
If you steal they will cut your hand
from here.
If you steal again they will cut the
other hand.
If you are caught with alcohol in your
mouth, in your body.
You will be whipped 80 times in your
back.
If a woman caught in adultery she will
be shot by a gun in her head.
A man will be beheaded by a sword.
And this is happening in Iran, Sudan and
Saudi Arabia.
When they were performing that every Friday after
prayer we run to the justice yard to
watch that.
That used to be our entertainment.
But I never thought that the people will
come and watch us.
According to the Islamic law they will not
kill more than a convert a Friday.
So the first Friday was Mahmood.
And they took him.
And they put him up in the platform
and they want him to say the Islamic
creed.
And he shouted with all of his voice.
Jesus here I come.
And the anger was so angry he just
finished him.
The second Friday came.
It was the longest week again.
Imad was strengthening me.
He was telling me Mahmood is with Jesus
now.
And he started to tell me how heaven
looked like.
Friday came and they took him and we
thought that he got mad.
He was calling the guard and the police
hurry quickly.
I want to go to see Jesus.
When they decide also to hang him.
Before he step in the platform he hold
my hand.
He said promise me to come.
I told him I cannot promise you.
But whatever you are going to be doing
with Jesus up there pray for me down
here.
And they took Imad and they put the
robe around him.
They want him to say the Islamic creed
and he shouted and he said.
Jesus here I come.
And the anger finish him right away.
They took me back again.
Many times I want to shout that I
am a Muslim.
But I couldn't.
How could I deny Jesus.
The one who love me.
The one who died for me.
The one who forgive me.
I cannot deny him.
Friday came.
I was supposed to hang in that day.
It was in 1985.
This one Gaddafi attack Sudan.
It was a big war between Libya and
Sudan.
And Gaddafi idea was to cripple the economy
of Sudan.
So he bombed some of the industrial area.
Our prison was outside there.
And it was hit as well.
In the middle of confusion all of us
prisoners we start to run in a different
direction.
And we skipped.
I was running toward the city.
I can feel the bullets in the air.
I was praying to God for sure if
I didn't die by a robe.
For sure I am going to die by
a bullet.
But God has saved me.
I got to the city.
I went to that elderly lady.
She allow me to get in.
And I told her that the Libyan attack
our country.
She said you are welcome to stay until
the war is end.
After the war ended she said what are
you going to do?
I said I don't know.
She said you know your family doesn't want
you anymore.
I said I know they disowned me already.
She said I am going to name you
Wajdi.
Wajdi is coming from a root name in
Arabic.
It is called Shawqi.
It is a desire.
It is a desire to follow God.
And she gave me the doctor name Iskander.
And this is how I became Wajdi Iskander.
There were two mission organizations in our country.
OM Operation Mobilization George Borwer and Brother Andrew
of Indoor Ministry.
And they were following the situation there.
And they smuggled me out of Sudan.
And I got in a ship and I
got to Italy.
I joined another ship.
It is called Dulus.
It is an OM ship.
I was there for 14 months.
It was a healing time for me.
I woke up in the middle of the
night with nightmare.
They are coming to get me.
They are going to beat me.
They are coming to hang me.
I spent these 14 months.
They were just working in me.
And finally I got off in London, England.
I applied for religious refugees.
I was refused because at that time Sudan
was just got their colony and they are
still like it is a British colony.
Until the 80s they have still a connection
with England.
And they have this agreement that they will
not accept any political or religious refugees.
They will be deported back to Sudan.
And they told me if you found another
country we will not deport you.
At that time God was working in Canada.
At Prairie Bible Institute there was scholarship for
7 years laying there for a Muslim convert
from a third world country who is interested
in mission.
And they sent to all mission organization work
among the Muslim.
No answer.
They remembered and they called Prairie.
They said yeah the scholarship is still there.
They said we have this young man in
the heart of London.
We don't know what to do with him.
And this is how I came to Canada.
Not knowing any English.
Not knowing anything.
As I told you I failed all my
courses.
But one course I got A+.
That was mission.
I will go every weekend to Calgary to
knock the door of the Arabs and the
Sudanese and tell them about the love of
Jesus.
And this is how I started the church
in Calgary.
In 95 I went to Edmonton.
I wanted to start church.
Accidentally I started two churches.
An Arabic church and a Sudanese church.
And then Vancouver.
In 97 I was called by Campus Crusade
to help them with the refugees in Europe.
Accidentally again I started 25 groups across Europe.
And then they sent me to Australia, to
India.
And then I was the pastor of the
underground church in the Emirates.
And God has kept blessing me.
And recently with all the ministry I'm doing
Also I'm working in a satellite TV station.
I don't know if you know Joyce Meyer.
I'm working for her.
She has a TV station and she opens
some of the air time to broadcast Arabic
programs.
And it's shown all over the world.
Even I preach in my country they see
it and they cannot be interrupted because the
signal is from Tel Aviv, from Israel.
And you cannot interrupt anything in Israel.
So they cannot interrupt that channel.
Between 97 to 2004 I didn't count before
I stopped counting after.
Only by the grace of God I was
able to baptize 700 worldwide to the Kingdom
of God from the Muslim background.
And all this because I said yes to
Jesus.
One of my responsibilities now with my domination
is to start Muslim ministry.
Not looking to our own churches but to
all churches.
Is to pray for the Muslims.
To reach the Muslims.
And to share the love of Christ with
them.
I was speaking in one of the Pentecostal
conference in Edmonton.
There is one of their leaders named Bob
Gill.
We were sitting together and talking about how
we can move the church to pray for
the Muslims.
And as we were talking he answered his
own question.
He said, Wajdi we need a martyr for
the church to move.
I went back home and I I sat
in the couch and I was in a
kind of a long trip like this trip
and my children around me and my wife
sitting in front of me and they said
what's wrong with you?
I told them I was talking to Bob
and this is what he told me.
And I started to look to my children
and my wife and I told him I'm
willing to be that martyr if that will
move the church.
A few weeks ago I was in at
the golf, at the Billy Graham Center.
I was speaking there and I was sitting
with someone he's called Ralph.
And we were talking about Islam.
He said how do you see it in
Canada?
I told him the Canadian they like hockey
and I will tell this to the Canadian.
Jesus and Muhammad in the arena.
Who is going to win in Canada?
We have over a million Muslim here.
The largest mosque in North America between the
States and Canada.
It's in Canada, it's in Calgary.
They just elected the first Muslim mayor in
our city.
The biggest Islamic training center is in Canada
in Halifax.
Two years ago I was in a conference
where Jamal Badawi one of the the leader
of the Muslim in Canada.
He was speaking in a conference and he
said as we're going to bring this center
to Calgary as well this is our goal.
Are you ready to hear their goal?
He challenged them every year to convert 50
young people 30 family and 20 clergymen from
the church.
So you're one of them.
I was called last year to Silver Lake
and I met a youth pastor.
He became a Muslim.
I went to Silver Lake and there a
Baptist minister he's thinking about Islam.
Islam is in our churches.
Will you stand and pray for the Muslim?
We started and I close with this.
We started three years ago as a ministry
for me and this is my prayer for
Canada and my prayer for my visit in
Regina.
We started in Calgary a prayer rally at
the end of Ramadan to pray for the
Muslim.
The month of Ramadan when the Muslim they
fast the whole month from sunrise to sunset
they don't even swallow their own saliva.
At the end of the month it's called
the night of power.
Laylatul Qadr.
And this is the only night the Muslim
they seek God.
The only night the people they seek God.
And that night I don't know if you
heard about this testimony you can go to
the internet and listen to some of the
convert.
And I'm going to shake your theology here.
That Muslim they have come to know the
Lord.
Most of them they have seen Jesus in
vision or in dreams.
And that is the night where they see
Him.
If we continue to pray.
So we started in Calgary now we have
the prayer rally in Edmonton and we have
it in Montreal and we have it in
Vancouver.
And my goal and my prayer that you
here in Regina will pick up this prayer
rally and to pray for the Muslim.
We have seen an answer of prayer.
We have seen thousands of them coming to
know the Lord.
In fact now one of my tassel is
the tassel of the MBB's.
MBB's standing for Muslim background believer.
I will go around the world and meet
with them challenge them, train them and get
them to ministry.
If there is any bold people in the
world they can preach the gospel will be
the MBB's, the Muslim background believer.
Because they are not scared to share the
gospel, they are willing to die for Christ.
And I can tell you story after story
about how they stand for Christ even in
front of death.
This is the people we want to win
them to the Lord.
Will you pray for them?
Are you willing to pray for them?
Are you willing to stand for Christ?
Let me back up little bit in your
prayer, as you are praying.
Have you denied Him before?
Have you walked away from Him because of
little challenge in your life?
Today I am ask you come back to
Him.
If you haven't received Him I am invite
you to experience His love His forgiveness and
His peace.
You can have that peace that He give
it to me and I have it until
now.
Maybe you need to to visit back your
prayer life.
Your connection with Him.
Maybe there is Muslim around you, you hate
them, you are afraid of them.
You have Islamophobia.
Today I am ask you to pray for
them.
If you are a pastor or you are
from other churches will you lead your congregation
to pray for them?
They are here to listen.
They want to know the truth.
And you have the truth.
Will you commit yourself?
Canadian, Jesus and Muhammad in the arena.
Who is going to win?