Thousands Of People From Religions All Over The World Miraculously Turning To Yahshua Jesus

One of the most dramatic developments is that many Muslims throughout the Middle East and even in the United States are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus. They are coming into churches explaining that they have already converted and now need a Bible and guidance on how to follow Jesus. This is in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

AFGHANISTAN

In Afghanistan, for example, there were only 17 known evangelical Christians in the country before al-Qaeda attacked the United States. Today, there are well over 10,000 Afghan followers of Christ

* UZBEKISTAN -- There were no known Muslim converts to Christ there in 1990. Now there are more than 30,000.

* IRAQ -- In Iraq, there was only a handful of Muslim converts to Christianity back in 1979 when Saddam Hussein took full control of that country. Yet today, there are more than 70,000 Iraqi Muslim background believers in Jesus (MBBs), approximately 50,000 who came to Christ as refugees in Jordan after the first Gulf War in 1990-91, and another 20,000 who have come to Christ since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

* KAZAKHSTAN -- In Kazakhstan, there were only three known evangelical Christian believers before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Today there are more than 15,000 Kazakh Christians, and more than 100,000 Christians of all ethnicities.

* EGYPT -- More than 1 million Egyptians have trusted Christ over the past decade or so. The Egyptian Bible Society told me they used to sell about 3,000 copies of the Jesus film a year in the early 1990s. But in 2005 they sold 600,000 copies, plus 750,000 copies of the Bible on tape (in Arabic) and about a half million copies of the Arabic New Testament. "Egyptians are increasingly hungry for God's Word," an Egyptian Christian leader told me. Last Christmas, I had the privilege of visiting the largest Christian congregation in the Middle East, which meets in an enormous cave on the outskirts of Cairo. Some 10,000 believers worship there every weekend. A prayer conference the church held in May 2005 drew some 20,000 believers.
·

* IRAN -- In 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini led the Islamic Revolution, there were only about 500 known Muslim converts to Christianity. Today, interviews with two dozen Iranian pastors and church leaders reveals that there are well over 1 million Shia Muslim converts to Christianity.

* SUDAN-- More than 1 million Sudanese have made decisions to follow Jesus Christ just since 2001. Since the early 1990s, more than 5 million Sudanese have become followers of Jesus. Muslims were turning to Jesus in alarming numbers. "In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity," Al Qataani warned. "Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity." Stunned, the interviewer interrupted the cleric. "Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have six million converting from Islam to Christianity?" Al Qataani repeated his assertion. "Every year," the cleric confirmed, adding, "a tragedy has happened."

http://isaalmasih.net/isa/dreamsofisa.html

*Note*: Simply copy and past any underlined links into your browser address bar to examine material in depth.

Filipino Muslims Report Dreams of Jesus [IsaAlMasih.net]
http://isaalmasih.net/isa/dreams-philippines.html

Muslims find the real Jesus
http://net-burst.net/hot/muslim.htm

Encounters with Jesus - Muslims tell.
http://www.30-days.net/witness/tellit4.htm

Dreams & Visions Move Muslims To Christ
http://www.epm.org/articles/dreams_visions.html

Central Asian Muslims dream Jesus
http://www.intervarsity.org/ism/article/1978

http://www.christianword.org/revival/visions.htm

http://www.jesusvisions.org/index.shtml

Accounts Multiply Of Muslims Who Have Encountered Christ in Unusual Dreams
By Michael H. Brown - 600 ex-Muslims who now follow Jesus

In Mina's book she tells of the Lord Jesus' miraculous radiant appearance to an elderly Muslim theologian in Iran., and about Jesus telling this man he is not Allah! Jesus then tells this man that He is "the Bread of Life", and words similar to His (Jesus') blood washes sins away. Realizing whom he is dealing with, the man asks Jesus to accept him.
http://bibleprobe.com:80/miracle-in-iran.htm

October 6, 2002

The Remarkable Testimony of a Buddhist monk in Myanmar (Burma) who came back to life a changed man!

Introduction

The story that follows is simply a translation of a taped testimony from a man with a life-changing story. It is not an interview or a biography, but
simply the words from the man himself. Different people react in different ways when they hear this story. Some are inspired, some skeptical, a few
will mock and ridicule, while some others have even been filled with rage and anger, convinced these words are the ravings of a mad man or an elaborate deception. Some Christians have opposed the story simply because the radical and miraculous events described herein do not fit their feeble image of an Almighty God.

We were first made aware of this story from several Burmese church leaders who shared it with us. These leaders had looked into the story and had not found any suggestion of it being a hoax. It was with this in mind that we decided to step out and circulate the story. We do not do so for any monetary gain, or with a motivation of self-promotion. We just want to let the story speak for itself, and invite Christian believers to judge it according to scripture. If God wants any part of it to be intended for His glory or to encourage His people, then we pray His Spirit will work in the hearts of the readers in those ways.

Some people have told us they think the monk in this story never actually died, but that he just lapsed into unconsciousness, and the things he saw
and heard were part of a fever-driven hallucination. Whatever you think, the simple fact remains that the events of this story so radically transformed this man that his life took on a complete 180-degree shift after the events
described below. He has fearlessly and boldly told his story at great personal cost, including imprisonment. He has been scorned by his relatives,
friends and colleagues, and faced death threats for his unwillingness to compromise his message. What motivated this man to be willing to risk
everything? Whether we believe him or not, his story is surely worth listening to and considering. In the cynical West many people demand hard
evidence of such things, evidence that would stand up in a court of law. Can we absolutely guarantee, beyond doubt, that all of these things happened?
No, we cannot. But we feel it is worth repeating this man's story in his own words so that readers can judge for themselves.

My Early Years

Hello! My name is Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu. I am from the country of Myanmar. I would like to share with you my testimony of what happened to me,
but first I would like to give some brief background information from my
life growing up.

I was born in 1958 in the town of Bogale, on the Irrawaddy Delta area of southern Myanmar [formerly Burma]. My parents, who were devout Buddhists
like most people in Myanmar, named me Thitpin [which means 'tree' in English]. Our lives were very simple where I grew up. At the age of 13, I
left school and started working on a fishing boat. We caught fish and sometimes shrimp from the numerous rivers and streams in the Irrawaddy area.
At the age of 16, I became the leader of the boat. At this time I lived in Upper Mainmahlagyon Island [Mainmahlagyon means 'Beautiful Woman Island' in
English], just north of Bogale where I was born. This place is about 100 miles southwest of Yangon [Rangoon], our nation's capitol city.

One day, when I was 17, we caught a large number of fish in our nets. Because of the many fish, a large crocodile was attracted to us. It followed
our boat and tried to attack us. We were terrified, so we frantically rowed our boats toward the riverbank as fast as we could. The crocodile followed us and smashed our boat with its tail. Although no one died in this incident, the attack greatly affected my life. I no longer wanted to fish.
Our small boat sank because of the crocodile attack. We had to go home to our village that night on a passenger boat.

Not long after, my father's employers transferred him to Yangon City [formerly spelt Rangoon]. At the age of 18, I was sent to a Buddhist monastery to be a novice monk. Most parents in Myanmar send their son into a Buddhist monastery, at least for a time, as it is considered a great honor to have a son serve in this way. We have been observing this custom for many hundreds of years.

A Zealous Disciple of Buddha

When I turned 19 years and 3 months old (in 1977), I became a normal monk. The senior monk at my monastery gave me a new Buddhist name, which is the
custom in our country. I was now called U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya. When we become a monk, we no longer use the name given to us at birth by our
parents. The name of the monastery I lived at is called Mandalay Kyaikasan Kyaing. The senior monk's name was called U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [U
Zadila is his title]. He was the most famous Buddhist monk in all of Myanmar at the time. Everyone knew who he was. He was widely honored by the people and respected as a great teacher. I say he "was" because in 1983 he suddenly died when he was involved in a fatal car accident. His death shocked everyone. At the time I had been a monk for six years.

I tried hard to be the best monk I could and to follow all the precepts of Buddhism. At one stage, I moved to a cemetery where I lived and meditated
continually. Some monks who really want to know the truths of Buddha do things like I did. Some move deep into the forests where they live a life of
self-denial and poverty. I sought to deny my selfish thoughts and desires, to escape from sickness and suffering and to break free from the cycle of this world. At the cemetery I was not afraid of ghosts. I tried to attain such inner peace and self-realization that even when a mosquito landed on my arm I would let it bite me instead of brushing it off!

For years I strived to be the best monk I could and not to harm any living being. I studied the holy Buddhist teachings just like all my forefathers
had done before me. My life proceeded as a monk until I got very, very sick.

I was in Mandalay at the time and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. The doctors did some tests on me and told me I had both Yellow Fever and malaria at the same time! After about one month in the hospital I was getting worse. The doctors told me there was no chance for me to recover
and discharged me to make arrangements to die.

This is a brief description of my past. I would now like to tell you some of the remarkable things that happened to me after this time...

A Vision that Changed My Life Forever

After I was discharged from the hospital I went back to the monastery where other monks cared for me. I grew weaker and weaker and was lapsing into
unconsciousness. I learned later that I actually died for three days. My body decayed and stunk of death, and my heart stopped beating. My body was
prepared for cremation and was put through traditional Buddhist purification
rites.

Although I faded away in my body I remember my mind and spirit were fully alert. I was in a very, very powerful storm. A tremendous wind flattened the
whole landscape until there were no trees or anything else standing, just a flat plain. I walked very fast along this plain for some time. There were no other people anywhere, I was all alone. After some time I crossed a river.
On the other side of the river I saw a terrible, terrible lake of fire. In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a place like this. At first I was
confused and didn't know it was hell, until I saw Yama, the king of hell [Yama is the name ascribed to the King of Hell in numerous cultures
throughout Asia]. His face looked like the face of a lion, his body was like a lion, but his legs were like a naga [serpent spirit]. He had a number of
horns on his head. His face was very fierce, and I was extremely afraid. Trembling, I asked him his name. He replied, "I am the king of hell, the
Destroyer."

The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in Myanmar. I looked
closer and saw the shaven head of a man. When I looked at the man's face I saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [the famous monk who had died in a
car accident in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my former leader was confined to this lake of torment. I said, "Why is he in this lake of fire?
He was a very good teacher. He even had a teaching tape called 'Are You a Man or a Dog?' which had helped thousands of people understand that their
worth as humans is far greater than the animals." The king of hell replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. That's why he is in hell."

I was told to look at another person who was in the fire. I saw a man with very long hair wrapped on the left hand side of his head. He was also
wearing a robe. I asked the king of hell, "Who is this man?" He replied, "This is the one you worship: Gautama [Buddha]." I was very disturbed to see Gautama in hell. I protested, "Gautama had good ethnics and good moral character, why is he suffering in this lake of fire?" The king of hell
answered me, "It doesn't matter how good he was. He is in this place because he did not believe in the Eternal God."

I then saw another man who looked like he was wearing a soldier's uniform. He had a large wound on his chest. I asked, "Who is this man?" The king of hell said, "This is Aung San, the revolutionary leader of Myanmar." I was told, "Aung San is here because he persecuted and killed Christians, but
mostly because he didn't believe in Jesus Christ." In Myanmar the people have a common saying, "Soldiers never die, they live on." I was told that the legions of hell have a saying "Soldiers never die, but they go to hell
forever."

I looked and saw another man in the lake of fire.

He was a very tall man and he was dressed in military armor. He was also holding a sword and a shield. This man had a wound on his forehead. This man was taller than any person I have ever seen. He was six times the length between a man's elbow and the tips of his fingers when he stretches his arm out straight, plus one span of a man's fingers when he spreads out his hand.

The king of hell said, "This man's name is Goliath. He is in hell because he blasphemed the Eternal God and His servant David." I was confused because I didn't know who either Goliath or David were. The king of hell said, "Goliath is recorded in the Christian Bible. You don't know him now, but when you become a Christian you will know who he is."

I was then taken to a place where I saw both rich and poor people preparing to eat their evening meals. I asked, "Who cooked the food for these people?"

The king of hell replied, "The poor have to prepare their own food, but the rich people get others to cook for them." When the food had been prepared
for the rich people, they sat down to eat. As soon as they started a thick smoke came up. The rich people ate as fast as they could to ease their
consciences. They were struggling to breath because of the smoke. They had to eat fast because they were fearful of losing their money. Their money is
their god.

Another king of hell then came to me. I also saw a being whose job is to stoke the fires beneath the lake of fire, to keep it hot.

This being asked me, "Are you going into the lake of fire too?" I replied, "No! I am only here to observe!"

The appearance of this creature stoking the fire was very terrifying. He had ten horns on his head and a spear in his hand that had seven sharp blades coming from the end.

The creature told me, "You are right. You came here just to observe. I cannot find your name here." He said, "You must now go back the way you came."

He pointed me toward the desolate plain that I had first walked along before I came to the lake of fire.

The Road of Decision

I walked a long time, until I was bleeding. I was hot and in great pain. Finally, after walking for about three hours I came to a wide road. I walked
along this road for some time until I came to a fork.

One road, going off to the left, was wide. A smaller road went off to the right hand side. There
was a signpost at the fork saying that the road to the left was for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The smaller road to the right
was for believers in Jesus.

I was interested to see where the larger road led so I started down it.

There were two men walking about 300 yards ahead of me. I tried to catch up with them so I could walk with them but no matter how hard I tried I could not catch up to them, so I turned around and went back to the fork in the road.

I continued to watch these two men as they walked down the road away from me. When they reached the end of the road they were suddenly stabbed. These two men cried out in great pain! I also cried out when I saw what happened to them! I realized the bigger road ended in great danger for those who traveled down it.

Looking into Heaven

I started walking down the believers' road instead. After traveling for about one hour the surface of the road turned to pure gold. It was so pure
that when I looked down I could see my own reflection perfectly.

I then saw a man standing in front of me. He was wearing a white robe. I also heard beautiful singing. Oh, it was so beautiful and pure!

It was much better and more meaningful than the worship we have in churches here on the earth. The man in the white robe asked to walk with him.

I asked him, "What is your name?" but he did not answer. After I asked his name six times the man answered, "I am the one who holds the key to heaven. Heaven is a very, very beautiful place. You cannot go there now, but if you follow Jesus Christ you can go there after your life has finished on the earth." The man's name was Peter.

Peter then asked me to sit down and he showed me a place to the north. Peter said, "Look to the north and see God create man." I saw the Eternal God from
a distance. God spoke to an angel, "Let us make man." The angel pleaded with God and said, "Please don't make man. He will do wrong and will grieve you."
[In Burmese literally: "He will make you lose face."]. But God created a man anyway. God blew on the man and the man came to life. He gave him the name "Adam". [Note: Buddhists do not believe in the Creation of the world or of man, so this experience had a significant impact on the monk].

Sent Back with a New Name

Then Peter said, "Now get up and go back to where you came from. Speak to the people who worship Buddha and who worship idols. Tell them they must go to hell if they don't change. Those who build temples and idols will also have to go to hell. Those who give offerings to the monks to earn merit for themselves will go to hell. All those who pray to the monks and call them 'Pra' [respectful title for monks] will go to hell. Those who chant and
'give life' to idols will go to hell. All those who don't believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell."

Peter told me to go back to the earth and testify
about the things I had seen. He also said, "You must speak in your new name. From now on, you are to be called Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu ["Paul who Came Back to Life."].

I didn't want to go back. I wanted to go to heaven. Angels opened a book.

First they looked for my childhood name (Thitpin) in the book, but they could not find it. They then looked for the name I had been given when he
entered the Buddhist monk hood (U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya), but it wasn't written in the book either. Then Peter said, "Your name is not written here, you must return and testify about Jesus to the Buddhist people."

I walked back along the gold road. Again I heard beautiful singing, the kind of which I have never heard before or since. Peter walked with me until the time I returned to the earth. He showed me a ladder that reached down from the heaven to the sky. The ladder didn't reach to the earth, but stopped in mid-air.

On the ladder I saw many angels, some going up to heaven and some going down the ladder. They were very busy. I asked Peter, "Who are they?"
Peter answered, "They are messengers of God. They are reporting to heaven the names of all those who believe in Jesus Christ and the names of those
who don't believe." Peter then told me it was time to go back.

It is a Ghost!

The next thing I was aware of was the sound of weeping. I heard my own mother cry out, "My son, why did you leave us now?".

I also heard many other people weeping. I realized I was lying in a box. I started to move. My
mother and father started shouting, "He is alive! He is alive!" Other people who were farther away did not believe my parents. I then placed my hands on the sides of the box and sat upright.

Many people were struck with terror.

They cried out, "It is a ghost!" and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

Those who remained were speechless and trembling. I noticed I was sitting in smelly liquid and body fluids, enough to fill about three and a half cups.
This was liquid that had come out of my stomach and my insides while my body was lying in the coffin. This is why people knew I had indeed been dead.

Inside the coffin there was a type of plastic sheet fixed to the wood. This sheet is placed there to retain a corpse's liquids, because many dead bodies
release much fluid like mine did.

I learned later that I was just moments away from being cremated in the flames. In Myanmar people are placed in a coffin, the lid is then nailed shut, and the whole coffin is burned. When I came back to life, my mother and father were being allowed to look at my body for the very last time.

Moments later, the lid of my coffin would have been nailed shut and I would have been cremated!

I immediately started to explain the things I had seen and heard. People were astonished. I told them about the men I had seen in the lake of fire,
and told them that only the Christians know the truth, that our forefathers and us have been deceived for thousands of years!

I told them everything we believe is a lie. The people were astonished because they knew what kind of a monk I had been and how zealous I had been for the teachings of Buddha.

In Myanmar when a person dies, their name and age is written on the side of the coffin. When a monk dies, the monk's name, age and the number of years
he has served as a monk are written on the side of the coffin. I had already been recorded as dead but as you can see, now I am alive!

Epilogue

Since 'Paul who came back to life' experienced the above story, he has remained a faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Burmese pastors have
told us that he had led hundreds of other monks to faith in Christ. His testimony is obviously very uncompromising. Because of that, his message has
offended many people who cannot accept there is only one Way to Heaven, which is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite great opposition, his
experiences were so real to him that he has not wavered. After many years in the Buddhist monk hood, as a strict follower of Buddhist teachings, he immediately proclaimed the Gospel of Christ following his resurrection and exhorted other monks to forsake all false gods and follow Jesus Christ with all their hearts. Before the time of his sickness and death, he had no exposure to Christianity at all. Everything he learned during those three days in the grave was new to his mind.

In a bid to get his message out to as many people as possible, this modern-day Lazarus began distributing audio and video cassette tapes with
his story

I came to the Buddhist path as a seeker. I was skeptical about religious claims, but felt a deep void in my life. I yearned for meaning and truth in a unpredictable and often hostile world. In Buddhism, I thought I had found what I was searching for.

Buddhists has never started a war. There was never a Buddhist Inquisition. They emphasized wisdom, compassion, lovingkindness, and personal transformation. And they certainly never threatened me with eternity in a lake of fire.

But it was not meant to be. That deep void in my life? It was what has often been described as a "God-shaped vacuum"-the emptiness that only God can fill. We are His creation, made in His image. He intends for us to have a relationship with Him and, when we are without Him, we feel empty and alone. No matter how long I meditated or what teachings I read, I could not fill this emptiness in my life. For in Buddhism, there is no sovereign, loving Creator.

True, some Buddhists purport to believe in a god, or in a realm of higher beings called devas. Others pray to statues of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). But as a whole, Buddhism is not a theistic religion. It has a law-the law of karma-but no lawgiver.

According to the Buddhist worldview, all beings accumulate karma based on their actions, and karma dictates their life circumstances. When a person dies, the karma accumulated in that lifetime (and all previous lives) determines his or her lot in the next life.

To many Buddhists, this means that a person born into a wealthy family has good karma, while someone who lives in a poor, disease-infested village would have accumulated negative karma.

Buddhists believe karma keeps one trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth (samsara), and the only way out is through enlightenment. To become enlightened, one has to eliminate desire. Buddha taught that desire is the root of suffering; that it causes attachment, which leads to suffering, and in turn causes other beings to suffer. This produces negative karma. If one eliminates desire and stops causing suffering, one can become enlightened, as he had.

But eventually I began to question. Who or what had set this law of karma in motion? Who judged these beings' actions and sentenced them to another life of pain? Why were beings punished for actions they would be unable to remember? Was desire always a bad thing? Wasn't the desire for enlightenment still desire? If so, how could one ever attain enlightenment?

So I strayed from the Buddhist path, the emptiness within me greater than before. I began to examine the claims of Jesus of Nazareth in a new light, laying aside the biases and prejudices that had caused me to dismiss Him as merely a "great human teacher." The more I searched, the more I came to believe that there was a sovereign God who loved me and that Jesus was who He claimed to be-the Son of Man, fully human and fully God. I accepted Christ into my heart.

In doing so, I now feel that I've found true enlightenment-through a personal relationship with my Creator.

What's more, I discovered that what I had sought through the Buddhist path-wisdom, compassion, and lovingkindness-were found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The supreme act of compassion was His sacrifice on the cross-that while we were still sinners, He died for us.

No human alive could ever demonstrate this kind of unselfish, unconditional love. No human can match God's divine mercy and lovingkindness, no matter how long we meditate or what books we've read. Yet we must try, for when we receive Christ, we become a new creation and begin the process of becoming Christ-like. The apostle John wrote. "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6, NKJV).

If this kind of personal transformation is not enlightenment, I do not know what is. To me, having a personal relationship with God and the assurance of salvation brings true peace. And it's ours if we but ask for it!

Further reading: Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias (Word, 2000).

Testimony of a former Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was in a train station in Japan, making a pilgrimage to the
head Buddhist temple Daisekiji at the foot of Mount Fuji, when a
young man -- in perfect English -- warned: "Beware the winds of
Himeiji!" Three and one-half hours later, I was leaning over to
put some postcards into my travel bag and heard someone yell a
warning in Japanese. The next thing I knew, a sign weighing nearly
200 pounds came crashing down on my back. I was in shock and my
right arm was paralyzed. I couldn't believe this was happening to
me!

The railroad authorities didn't want to take responsibility
for what had happened. They offered me money as a bribe; they
wanted to forget the accident had ever happened. But I refused the
offer, after obtaining advice from the U.S. embassy. Had I
accepted the money, the embassy told me, that would have relieved
the railroad authorities of all obligations and responsibility.

This episode caused me to become very discouraged, and I
desperately needed someone to lean on. In a wheelchair and all
alone, I decided to seek help from leaders at the Soka Gakkai
Buddhist headquarters in Tokyo. But my efforts were in vain. They
had no compassion whatsoever for me or my unfortunate turn of
events; they simply urged me to continue my pilgrimage, even
though I was confined to a wheelchair.

I remember asking myself at the time, "Why? Why don't these
Buddhist leaders help me? Don't they see my condition? Don't these
Buddhists -- who have been practicing _far longer_ than I -- have
any compassion at all?"

After this experience, I had no desire to finish the
pilgrimage. All I wanted to do was go home to my loving family. So
I flew back to the United States. To say the least, I was
beginning to have major doubts in my mind about Buddhism.

Accidents have a way of bringing us face to face with life's
precious realities. As a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist, I had for
fourteen years invested my energy, prayers, and hopes for a better
life in the philosophy of Nichiren Daishonin, a thirteenth-century
Japanese monk who claimed to have found the "true Buddhism." In
the United States his followers are organized by the Nichiren
Shoshu Academy (NSA), also known as Soka Gakkai. The main goal of
NSA is "Kosenrufu," or "world peace through the propagation of
Buddhism." And for years, I had enthusiastically sought Kosenrufu.

As I reflect back on those years, it strikes me that my
commitment to NSA could be questioned by none. As a young Nichiren
Shoshu Buddhist, I became a member of the Brass Band -- a musical
group founded specifically for the young men's division of NSA.
The band was intended as a training activity for developing
character in young men. As a member of this band, I attended a
multitude of conventions and was often called to the headquarters
for musical performances for overseas dignitaries.

I also helped build the Malibu Training Center and Santa
Monica headquarters (both in California). I became a senior leader
(or elder) of the young men's division at the Santa Monica
headquarters, and was a graduate of the Nichiren Shoshu study
department. By this time, my life had become thoroughly and
unconditionally committed to Kosenrufu.

It was not long after this that I decided to make a pilgrimage
to Japan -- a decision largely motivated by my yearning for truth.
I had become deeply involved in my commitment to see Buddhism
spread throughout the United States, but I found a tremendous lack
of translated material. As a result, I began to search. Little did
I know that I would soon uncover some things that would give me a
new perspective.

Open forums and meetings with fellow Buddhists began to shed
a new (and negative) light on the Buddhist religion for me. During
these sessions, like-minded Buddhists began to ask questions like,
"Why must we have a picture of sect President Daisaku Ikeda on the
wall? Doesn't that make it look like we're worshipping him? Why
must we wear white? Why can't men wear beards? Why must men and
women sit apart from one another? And where is all the money going
in NSA?" We felt that we should have a little more control over
what was going on.

During one period, some of the Japanese leadership attended
the meetings and were later overheard behind closed doors saying,
"these meetings must be stopped." And so, one by one, the meetings
_were_ stopped. This caused me a great deal of disillusionment.

As a senior leader in NSA, I encountered more and more
hypocrisy in the upper leadership levels and made sincere attempts
to resolve organizational and philosophical deficiencies. However,
these attempts were only met by deceit, jealousy, power maneuvers,
and even threats against my life. I made a last-ditch effort by
talking with top Soka Gakkai leaders, but it only confirmed my
need to talk to President Daisaku Ikeda, "master" of the sect, who
is praised and glorified by Nichiren Shoshu devotees. (Ikeda's
picture is prominently placed near Nichiren Shoshu altars
worldwide.)

I tried to make legitimate appointments with President Ikeda
by letter, by phone, and in person -- only to be denied and pushed
aside. But -- undaunted -- I was _determined_ to see him. One day
he was coming out of the World Culture Center in Santa Monica
(which is the North American headquarters for NSA), and was
heading for his car behind a wall of Buddhist bodyguards. I rushed
across the street to within just a few feet of him and cried out
to him. I _know_ that he heard me, but he refused to even look my
way. I was coldly shunned as he got into his limousine and sped
away. At that point, I was a spiritually broken man. I felt
totally lost.

Even after that incident, I was unwilling to abandon fourteen
years of Buddhist practice, and yet I was noticing in myself more
and more depravity until I could scarcely identify with a pure
conscience anymore. The leaders were not the only hypocrites. I,
too, was living a lie. I was painfully lost in a spiritual
wasteland and was weighed down with sin. I realized that while
Buddhism had benefited me in many ways, it ultimately led to a
spiritual dead end. As a great wise man, King Solomon, once said:
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads
to_ death_" (Prov. 16:25).

But God was soon to show me the way to _life._ One day a young
Christian architect friend of mine, Laurie, who had been sharing
with me earlier, came into the blueprint store where I was
working. My spiritual hunger prompted me to confide in her that I
was seeking spiritual truth. She responded by saying, "I've got a
present for you that I'll bring by tomorrow." As she left, she
looked back at me behind the counter and said, "I've been praying
for you." I was deeply moved by her concern for me.

The next morning, there was a package waiting for me with a
card on top which said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." There
were also two books: one by J. Isamu Yamamoto called _Beyond
Buddhism,_ and another by Josh McDowell, _More Than a Carpenter._
After reading these books, I wondered, "Could this be the perfect
Master I was seeking, but didn't know?"

Soon after this, another Christian friend named Craig saw my
spiritual confusion, and challenged me to "go home and get down on
my knees and pray and ask God whether I ght in Buddhism. Often top
Nichiren Shoshu leaders would mockingly exclaim, "Can you believe
a religion that worships a dead man on a cross?" But here in this
book was the Living Master -- the One my heart had sought so
desperately in men.

I was then introduced by my father to a pastor from a church
in Santa Monica who shared the truth of the Living God with me. He
read to me the words of Christ: "I am the bread of life; he who
comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall
never thirst." Convicted of my sin against a holy God, I laid down
my burden at the Savior's feet and gave my life to Him. That
night, my wife -- a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist for 16 years -- also
believed. What grace!

Nichiren, the self-proclaimed Japanese True Buddha that we had
followed for so many years, said that if he found a teacher
greater than himself he would follow him. In our case, _we_ were
found by a greater Teacher -- the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the eternal God, before whom "every knee shall bow."