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His name is "Paul" and his life as a Christian somewhat parallels that of the apostle Paul.
Paul Subhan, an evangelist among Muslims in South India, makes no claim to apostleship, calling
himself a simple "servant of the Lord," but he has suffered much at the hands of those he seeks
to save.
His friend and original supporter, Ted Cline, now deceased, called him a "modern day Paul" after learning of his journey from darkness to his acceptance of the Truth of God. That journey — and his continuing journey through life as a Christian — was, and is, fraught with many dangers and much suffering. That journey, which began in his youth as a Communist Party member and a Muslim, ultimately led the honest-hearted young man to God's Word. Now, at 67 (he turned 68 June 1) Paul Subhan is the only known evangelist among churches of Christ working exclusively among Muslims. Though his English is difficult to understand at times, he is fluent in three languages spoken in India — Urudu, his native tongue, Hindi, India's national language, and in Telegu. In his area, Nandavaram Nellore, South India, there are 47 congregations of Christians. More than 500 of these were former Muslims and approximately 2,000 were converted to Christ from Hinduism. He was born into a wealthy Indian Muslim family. His grandfather was a Forest Officer for the Indian Government and his father was a medical doctor. He has written a booklet, entitled, Why I Became A Christian. The booklet has been published in English and relates his conversion and subsequent trials. "Since I was the elder male child in the family, my grandpa adopted me and I inherited all his property. After I completed my high school education, my parents decided to send me to Arabic College to study Islam and become a Muslim Priest. But I was concentrating on Communism and serving as a Youth Secretary in our area." His involvement in Communism resulted in injuries sustained in what he calls, "party rioting." Those injuries, he says, brought him to a denominational hospital. "One afternoon I was admitted into a Baptist Hospital in an unconscious condition. Many visitors were there. Among them was a pastor by the name of 'John.' He prayed for me and gave me a Bible. What the Muslim law taught us was, to read any book only after reading Islamic books. As a Communist, as well as a Muslim, I had no mind to read the Bible. I was invited to many villages after discharge from the hospital. The Christian locality of Atmakur Town invited me on 'Good Friday.' It so happened that from a nearby church [through the public address system] I heard the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. The very first saying was, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' It impressed me and made me think deep. I suffered a lot with only one wound, [and wondered] how is it possible to Christ to say such a thing with so many wounds? I went to the pastor who gave me a Bible. I asked him, according to the Law of Moses it is 'tooth for tooth' and 'eye for eye, ' but Jesus said quite the opposite to it. [He] quoted First Corinthians 1:18: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." "Christ died for all," he said, and explained clearly about the cross. He prayed for me. Not only did Paul's parents want him to become an Imam, but that was also the position held by his uncle, whom he questioned about Muhammed and Christ. "I approached and asked my religious preacher and uncle, 'who is great? Muhammed, or Christ? ' "He was astonished and said, 'How did you get this doubt as a Muslim?' Among all the prophets, Muhammed is the greatest because in the end, Christ will come, collect all the righteous and hand over them to Muhammed and Muhammed will take them to God. With this, Muhammed is the greatest, according to Islamic scriptures, he said. "He further told me to get ready to go to an Islamic college for more detailed study and to become a Muslim Priest. 'It is the ambition of our great family,' he said." That night, Paul said he pondered the two books — the Koran and the Bible — and could find "no correlation between them." He asked such questions as, "Which is the real one?" and "Why did the God give two scriptures?" "Did God make this mistake, or did people create this?" "I went to the pastor and asked him to say which is the true one, the Bible or the Koran? If you say the Bible is true, why don't you preach it to our people?" The Baptist pastor's answer revealed his own fear of Islam and he gave Paul a typical denominational reply. "Mr. Subhan, I am not afraid of preaching the Bible. But, as it is said in the Bible, the Muslims are like wild asses. If we go to the front, it bites, and if we go to the rear, it kicks. They never think of truth and never think spiritually. If you want to know the true God, you pray from this night and He will let you know." Paul's uncle was furious with him when he told him he would go to the Islamic college, but only after another year. The uncles ordered him to enter the college immediately. Paul spent that night studying and contrasting the lives of Jesus and Muhammed. Jesus, he said, "was born with the power of the Holy Spirit to a virgin, while Muhammed had an ordinary birth." He also studied the "Hadith" of Bukhari which was written 200 years after Muhammed died, "but the New Testament was written only 65 years after the ascension of Christ." His studies were interrupted about midnight when his uncle, "peeped through and found me studying the Bible. He was furious. He said, 'Do you equalise [equate] untouchable book [The Bible] with the Holy Koran? Who deceived you? Who gave you this Bible? If you read this book (Bible) it means eating what is hated.' He pulled the Bible from my hand and went away. "One week later I asked him for permission to visit my aunt who is 100 miles away. He was happy to see only Koran in my hand. I bought a Bible on the way and reached my aunt's house. I changed the shape of it [the Bible] so that other Muslims may not notice that it is a Bible. "I was acquainted with the Imam. One day, while in discussions, he said that Christians say that they are the sons of God, which is not pardonable. Then I said, 'What about Muslims? Are we not sons of God?' He said that Muslims are the servants of God. Then I said there is a vast difference between the son and the servant. Muslims are instructed to pray for Muhammed's "past and future sins," but Jesus was sinless (John 8:46), Paul said. The Koran (Surah 9:80; 63:6) "says that whether Muhammed begs pardon for others, or whether you ask pardon for 70 times, God will not excuse them forever. This statement made me to shiver. [The] Bible says, there is "one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ" (1 Tim. 2:5). Then I came to the conclusion that in spite of praying five times a day in front of Muhammed and when the God does not listen to his requests, he has no power of a mediator. "I advanced to know about Heaven. Jesus said that believers who died in Christ enter the heaven and live like angels (Matt. 22:30), but Muhammed said in Surah 52:18-21 that they eat rich food and enjoy the life with marriage. Surah 55:56 says that heavenly women are holy and they will be allotted to certain devotees only. There is a difference of East and West between the spiritual instructions of Christ and the earthly instructions of Muhammed. I have made up my mind to accept Christ." EDITOR'S NOTE: The narrative of Paul Subhan's journey from darkness to light will be continued in the next issue. |