Like many young men living in the Middle East, Omar* felt isolated from outside ideas and information. He turned to the internet where his curiosity led him to discover new age beliefs and practices. He became a pranic healer, one who uses spiritual forces or energy, even though the practice was very much prohibited in his country.

Omar's desire to improve his English skills drew him to engage with The Ephraim Project on social media. His curiosity and interest in spiritual things generated opportunities for private conversations where Suzanne* and the team began sharing their faith. When Omar heard that Suzanne was having some issues with her eyes, he offered to heal her. This gave Suzanne the opportunity to explain the spiritual reasons why she did not want him to attempt to heal her. Omar had many questions. Over the next couple of years, they exchanged thousands of texts, voicemails, and pictures as Suzanne slowly shared portions of Scripture with him.

One day, Omar called Suzanne to tell her about the dream he had. "I was in a room sitting beside a man and a boy. I discovered that this man was Jesus Christ. We were talking about healing power. He was about to heal that boy. I told Him that he can’t heal this boy. I said, ’You don’t have the ability to heal him.' Jesus looked angry because of these words, and He was angry with me because I said that. He turned His face and became sad. After a minute or so, He asked me, 'Would you like me to heal you?' I said again, 'Can you heal me?' He said, 'All of your sins are forgiven. You are clean now, your mind, your body. You are clean now. I cleanse you, and you will be in Heaven.' That was really an impressive dream. I was shocked when I woke up. I was shocked by that dream. I have had some interesting dreams with great men, but this you know, this is a dramatic dream for me. Maybe it was a sign, I don’t know. You know because when I heal other people, I call for help from Allah, from archangels, and sometimes from Jesus Christ for healing powers to help me heal others better or faster. And maybe this is a sign for me to believe in Him stronger and better."

Omar asked Suzanne, "What do you think it means?" She responded, "I think Jesus is pursuing you and wants you to become one of His children."

Omar asked, ' How do I do that? Suzanne shared Romans 10:9 with him, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Omar replied, "Let me think about that." Not too long after that, Omar left Suzanne a short voicemail that still brings tears to her eyes. He said, "I confess that Jesus is Lord. And I believe in my heart—I believe that God raised him from the dead! It's wonderful. He raised Him from the dead."

Suzanne began walking through the Gospels with Omar, one chapter at a time.

One day, Omar was out walking, and he came across an old Christian cemetery that he didn’t know existed. He began reading the inscriptions on the tombstones that had been desecrated and were now scattered around on the ground. This was all new to him, and he was so amazed by what he read. His excitement was cut-short when local police stopped him. They asked for his identification and why he was in this Christian cemetery. They looked up his records and saw that he had been identified as a pranic healer. Now he was wandering through a Christian cemetery. They warned Omar that he needed to shape up.

But Omar was excited as a new believer. He wanted to be baptized even though it was not possible in his home country. He secretly crossed over the border to find a church and a pastor who would baptize him. The experience was a bit surreal as he had never seen a baptism before. Suzanne recalls, ”Omar described it as getting into a huge tub of water. ’The pastor said some words, and then he pushed me under the water.’ But Omar could not remember what the pastor said.

I asked him, 'Did the pastor say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.' He replied, ’Yes, that’s it! That’s what the pastor said’ Omar was so excited to know for certain these special words."

Omar felt compelled to share the Jesus he had discovered. He wanted others to meet Him too! He created what he thought was an anonymous social media page where he began sharing truths about Jesus. His social media page did not go unnoticed, and his true identity was discovered. As a result, Omar received another very threatening phone call from extremists who told him to stop his behavior immediately or he and his family would suffer.

Faced with this difficult choice and not wanting anything to happen to his parents or his sister, Omar fled the country. His family was extremely heartbroken that he had left. Throughout the journey to a safe country, Omar’s sister would ask Suzanne to pray for him, "My brother has left for this Jesus. He’s hiding in Jesus's house. Jesus needs to protect him." And Jesus did.

Suzanne recounts how Omar was walking through the woods scared and alone. "He hadn't eaten for days and was getting desperate. He asked the Lord to provide him with food. About five minutes later, he saw a man in the distance. Omar was worried that this man might be an official, but then he thought, what if this man was God's answer to his prayer. So, he decided to approach him. It turned out the man was a Greek Orthodox believer who had a hut in the woods. He took him in, gave him some wild boar to eat, water to bathe, and a place to sleep that night. Omar was sure that he was going to get parasites from eating the wild boar—it was so counter-cultural. But he said, 'Actually, it tasted delicious.'"

Omar's journey across 11 countries was difficult. He was beaten, robbed, and arrested several times. Yet even in that, Omar saw God provide for his needs. At one point, he was so tired he could hardly walk. He was arrested, and then transported all the way to the other side of the country, where he was released in the direction he originally wanted to go.

One night, Omar contacted Suzanne to ask about a bug that was on his chest. Turns out it was a tick carrying Lyme disease. He became feverish and sought out a Christian church which took him to the hospital where he received antibiotics, food, and rest. During another leg in the journey, he was in the bottom of a boat with 25 other people when the boat began taking on water—up to his waist! Then a ship from a friendly government suddenly stepped in and rescued them.

Suzanne says, "He couldn’t heal himself; he needed God to heal him. He couldn't feed himself; he needed God to feed him. He couldn’t take one more step, and God took one more step for him. He needed a rescuer, and God rescued him." Omar needed a Savior, and Jesus reached out and saved Him.

*names changed for security