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I knew a woman who dreamed about Jesus.
Rena grew up in a Muslim family in Bangladesh. Historically, the religions that dominated Bangladesh were Buddhism and Hinduism. But in 1204 the country was conquered by Muslims. As of 2022, 91.04% of the country’s population is Muslim. Of the remaining population, 7.94% is Hindu, 0.60% is Buddhist. And just 0.30% of the population is Christian. The constitution of Bangladesh promises religious freedom, but Muslim extremist groups target other religions with land seizures, threats to employment, and violent attacks.
In such a place, Rena wasn’t going to have evangelists knocking on her front door. No one was going to invite her to church. As a kid, I used to read Chick comic evangelist tracts. Rena did not. So, how was Rena ever to hear about Christ? She says he came to her in a dream. Somehow, she knew — not only knew it was Jesus, she knew she needed to follow him.
I met her decades after this dream. We attended the same church in Northern California. She was married, had two grown children and was still following Jesus. She’s passed since then, but I will never forget the story of her dream.
She’s not alone in that. Lana Silk, the U.S. director of the ministry Transform Iran, says, “God is using (dreams) to speak to Iranians all the time. He uses every method He can… The Iranians are open to dreams; they are dreamers. They enjoy talking about their dreams, and they’re aware of their dreams, and God uses that to speak to them.”
Pastor Tat Stewart grew up in Tehran, the son of medical missionaries, and is now the pastor of the Iranian Church of Colorado. He still has many contacts in Iran and believes the Christian Church has been growing rapidly, even with governmental persecution. When his parents served in Iran, it was believed there were 3000 Protestant Christians. Many estimate there may now be as many as one million Christians in Iran.
Perhaps we will know soon whether this is true. It might be that soon Iranian Christians will be able to express their faith freely. I’m praying this will be so. A dream come true.
Discussion (10)
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I have been seeing these stories for years and they always comfort me.
Here is one from 2023. The money line
Any gathering of Iranians or Afghan Christians, if you say, ‘How many have seen dreams that have been touched, if not radically, transformed because of a vision?’ [and] 90% will raise their hands,” he said.
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Another one, from 2024.
"I was on my knees. I was in ritual prayer form of Islam down with my head on the ground and just crying and saying, 'Can you please reveal yourself to me because I am so utterly confused on who you are.' And it was in one of those prayers in my bedroom that I audibly heard the voice of Christ and He said, 'Hedieh, it's Me.' And it was a – it was extraordinary. To this day I could tell you as if it happened yesterday.
cbn.com
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Jesus is mentioned 25 times in the Quran and is considered to be a prophet by Islam.
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Perhaps I should have said Christ as Savior.
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In Islam, Jesus is considered a prophet, not the Christ, which is another word for "Messiah." Islam does not regard Jesus as the Messiah, so Eustace's question is accurate.
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