I know, I know. We’ve missed a few weeks, but we’re back with a really special episode. My good friend, colleague, and partner in podcasting excellence, Stephen Kruiser, and I have guests with incredible testimonies all the time, but this week’s guest has a remarkable God story.
Abdu Murray grew up Muslim, and he was essentially a Muslim apologist who would use his knowledge of Islam and the shallowness of the faith of so many Christians to try to rattle their faith. Then an encounter with two faithful Christians sent him on a nine-year journey to embrace faith in Jesus.
Abdu’s trajectory toward Christianity began with reading Luke 3:
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
Abdu shared how the Middle East (and Middle Easterners in America) views religious identity differently from Westerners, and he explained how the Islamic concept of Allahu akbar (God is greater) made him view Jesus’ human nature as somehow lesser or weaker. But it was the self-sacrifice of Jesus for those who hated Him (see Romans 5:8) that turned his heart toward Christianity.
He told us that it took him two years to determine that Christianity was true, but it took another seven years for him to decide that he wanted to give his life to Jesus. Naturally, his family didn’t take it well, and he told us a little about where his family stands today.
We talked about how apologetics played a role in Abdu’s conversion — he basically practiced Christian apologetics on himself — and how practicing apologetics biblically leads us and others toward hope. We also discussed how having a friend on the journey with Abdu helped him.
Our distractions were minimal this week. We mentioned baseball and football briefly, and Kruiser and Abdu bonded over being in the same part of the country right now.
You can find out more about Abdu’s ministry, Embrace the Truth, here. Check out his books here.
Previously on Faith All Over the Place, Episode 38: Would Jesus Be an Influencer?
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