Co-Founder of Covenant of Life Ministries (CLM), multifaceted training and equipping organization releasing the prophetic purposes of God
Host of the daily TV program, Plumbline, seen in North America and around the globe
Conference speaker and other TV appearances
Guest
Faisal Malick: Marked for Evangelism
By Heather Salon
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– A DEVOUT FOLLOWER
Faisal Malick’s ministry is to communicate God’s love to the Muslim people. He was born in Pakistan and raised a devout Sunni Muslim. Although he was steeped in this religious training, he felt empty inside. This Canadian businessman considered Jesus to be no more than a Prophet, the Bible inaccurate, and the worship of Jesus unforgivable blasphemy. He took pleasure in challenging Christians in heated debates and was determined to win them to Islam.
A friend invited Faisal to go to church with him. Faisal declined and instead asked the friend to go to the mosque with him. This same friend invited him to a business conference with approximately 20,000 people. An offer had been given for front row seats at the afternoon business conference for all who attended the Sunday morning session. As an entrepreneurial businessman and eager student, Malick understood that the best instructors are those that had already achieved success in their area of instruction and purposed to take advantage of opportunities to learn from the “masters”. A guaranteed front row seat for the seminar was an enticing reward for simply attending the early meeting. It wasn’t until the morning session started that the realization of the purpose of the Sunday service became clear. As the speaker stepped to the podium, he welcomed the crowded room announcing, “Jesus is the Son of God.” Faisal thought this was blasphemous! However, he admired the technique that was used and made the decision that he would use the same strategy to promote Islam.
AN ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
Faisal attended two additional religious services connected with the business conventions. It was at the third service that he had an encounter with God. This was on July 3, 1994. He received the message of God’s love; he noticed that Christians had a peace about them. As the altar call was given at the conclusion of the meeting, Malick watched without emotion as others responded to the invitation for salvation.
Suddenly he sensed God’s presence right in front of him. His first thought was - why would God manifest himself among these people! Immediately he had a multitude of questions racing through his mind, but in his heart, he asked Him only one: “God, what are you doing here? I thought these Christians were the bad guys.”
In response, Malick heard an audible voice reply three times with the same answer, “No, these are My children.” As God spoke, His voice moved through Faisal and everything he had ever known up to that moment shattered.
He also asked the Lord, “Take away my stony heart and give me a new heart,” was Malick’s cry as he experienced new birth. “I didn’t completely understand what happened or how completely I had been changed until later.”
FROM MUSLIM TO MINISTER
Now, the same zeal which had motivated him to win others to Allah, was directed at winning people to Christ. Sharing his testimony became a daily event and within two or three years Faisal had led approximately 1,500 people to the Lord - Muslims to Jews and Hindus, most of them in his car which was affectionately called the “Save Mobile.”
He didn’t realize that what he was doing was unusual. Faisal recalls that one Muslim man came for two years without accepting Jesus. On the night he finally did decide to receive Christ he said a presence kept following him and didn’t leave until he accepted the Lord.
Another Muslim man came to him with his top 20 questions no Christian could answer. Faisal did not know what the man was going to ask or what he would answer him. Suddenly, an answer came after the man’s first question - and the answers kept coming. By the fifteenth or sixteenth question, God’s change came upon the man. He had to run to the bathroom because he was weeping. He came back and his twentieth question was, “How do I know what you’re saying is truth?”
Faisal answered, “Truth is a person.”
Then the man’s next question was “How do I know this Jesus?”
Faisal’s family somehow heard about his newfound faith and sold the house they allowed him to live in. Faisal had to live in his car during one of the worst winters in Canada. He would move from parking lot to parking lot in the evenings and go to McDonald’s in the mornings to shave. This did not stop him from sharing the Gospel with others. He eventually was able to move into a basement and his life went back to normal.
However, now he had the challenge of his family. He went back to visit them in Pakistan six years after he saw them last. When his step-father, who is a great man of integrity and well respected in the family and community, saw Faisal, he sensed Faisal was a “holy person.” After his three-week visit, although his family did not receive Christ, his stepfather said, “You have exceeded my expectations and seem to be a pure and holy man of God.”
Also, God has given him a unique opportunity among the Muslim and Hindu people through both his background and what is referred to as the “mehrab.” Faisal says in the Islamic world a mehrab is a mark on the forehead, which Muslims believe is a sign from God of a holy man. Hindus favor this mark too as a sign of God’s miraculous blessing. Many try to achieve this mark from their faithful devotion to the ritual of daily prayers. Faisal has a mark on his forehead. The most interesting thing is that it is not a birthmark. It just appeared when he was about 14-years-old. At the time, he didn’t understand its significance. But today Faisal sees it as a gift. Through this sign, God has opened doors of acceptance Faisal could never open himself.
In Canada, he would meet people at the local Perkins Restaurant. But this newly found passion took him on the road traveling and ministering life in schools, homes, churches and business communities. People would also invite him to speak at home groups, most averaging 150 people, and lives would be transformed. Many that attended these group meetings became pastors, knew pastors, etc., that would tell others about Faisal.
Once he was invited to speak at a church; the pastor told him there were two TV cameras at the back of the church and that it would be telecast in Canada and the U.S. – and he would minister in front of the church. Faisal read a passage from the Gospel of John. He felt the power of God, and one third of the crowd gave their lives to Christ. This was the first time Faisal was on TV. More ministry opportunities presented themselves.
In August 2003, Faisal’s ministry made a transition to TV. God told Faisal to ‘love these My people.’ God showed Faisal the power of TV and that Faisal would be used in a great way on TV to minister to Muslims. God also showed Faisal that the wall of Islam would fall. He was also making more TV appearances on the Inspirational Network, Sid Roth’s show and others. He launched his daily show, Plumbline, on February 2, 2009, which reaches at least 55 nations a month.
GOD’S MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS
God loves the Muslim people. About 40 percent of the gentile population is Muslim. God has not forgotten them, has a Father’s heart towards them, and hears their cry and longing for their Father. Just like in the story of Ishmael, the firstborn son of Abraham, who was exiled into the desert in favor of Abraham’s promised son Isaac (see Genesis 21:17). The name Ishmael means, “God hears.” He was one of four people in the Bible named before they were born, which indicated their destiny). Ishmael and his mother, Haggar, were exiled to the desert at the request of Sarah for the sake of Abraham’s promised child, Isaac. After a long journey in the desert, Ishmael was dying of thirst and cried out. God heard Ishmael’s cry and took care of him.
God promises to hear the Muslims’ hearts and be their loving Father. Understanding the roots of the Muslim people is an important key to understanding the current situation as well as ministering to Muslims. Dreams and visions are important to the Muslim. There will be a generation of Muslims that come to Jesus through dreams and visions – in the dreams and visions they see a Man clothed in white. The Church needs to be ready to explain. Muslims are open to dreams and visions, open to God speaking to them in this way.
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