Christopher Alam shares three personal reasons why he preaches the gospel.
Contributed By Annabelle Low
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| CN PHOTO: Yzanne Lim | |
Born into a religious family, Christopher Alam received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior in 1975. Right after he became a Christian, he was confined to a mental asylum for his new faith.
After his release, Alam began to preach the gospel of Christ, for which he was arrested and imprisoned. For refusing to renounce his faith in Jesus, he was threatened with execution. By means of a dramatic escape, Alam landed up in Sweden where he was granted political asylum. There, he received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Today, having spent 34 years in ministry, Alam has preached the gospel to millions of people in over 60 nations, and planted hundreds of churches. With the confirmation of signs, wonders and miracles—the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see and the demon-possessed are delivered through the power of Jesus’ name.
Having visited once in July 2009, Alam shared openly with the SOT students three personal reasons why he preaches the gospel. His words hit such a chord with many, that there was not a dry eye in the room.
One reason why Alam preaches is because of what Jesus Christ has done for him personally. His parents divorced when he was 8, and his father, a respected military hero, re-married a woman who beat him almost every day. By the time Alam was 15, he was suicidal, but did not dare to end his life as his then religion decreed suicide a cardinal sin.
When he was saved and subsequently thrown into prison on an unspecified charge, he heard an audible voice telling him that God would take him all around the world to share his testimony. “God has His hand upon us,” he said, “therefore we always have a future, a life and a hope.”
Alam’s advice to people living broken lives is to look to God alone for healing, instead of going to therapy or jumping from seminar to seminar because it only causes them to rehash and recycle their hurts.
Alam’s second reason for preaching is the things he has seen Jesus do in the lives of others. He asserted that believers must preach with all their hearts before the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit comes. The public announcement system he uses in his crusades is one that allows people to hear him from several kilometers away. That way, he reasons, everyone would be able to hear the Word being preached.
During one crusade in Zambia, a completely paralyzed boy heard Alam preaching over the PA system. He was lying at home, and was so convicted that he begged his sister to bring him to where Alam was, promising her that if she carried him there, he would walk back. The boy was healed, and his whole family came to salvation. Another woman who had already died of a brain haemorrhage came back to life during her funeral rites, by the power of the Holy Spirit carried by Alam’s voice over the loudspeakers in the distance.
Finally, Alam preaches in memory of an American missionary named Jim Turner. When he first attended church in Pakistan, Alam was prevented from partaking of the Holy Communion because he had not yet been baptized. No one dared to baptize him as water baptism would represent Alam’s final break from his religious ties, and he, as well as the person who baptized him, would be hunted down and executed. Despite this, Jim Turner saw in Alam a genuine faith, and risked his life to baptize him. Shortly after, Alam fled the country.
A few months later, Alam received a letter saying that Turner had been killed and his body found at the foot of the Himalayan mountains. Alam quoted Romans 5:17—“For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.”
While Christians may not all have a Jim Turner in their lives, they have Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for them on the cross when they were still sinners that they may live. Alam views each life brought to Christ as a repayment of his debt to Turner and to Christ, a debt that he knows he will never be able to repay in full.
At the end of his testimony, Alam held an altar call for those who “just need to bow down before the Lord.” Scores of students responded and packed the front of the room.
Alam’s message left the SOT students deeply moved and powerfully inspired. Said Lim Wee Kiong, 29, a cell group leader, “I am inspired by Alam’s sharing, which highlighted his willingness to sacrifice his life for the kingdom of God, His righteousness and His love.”
Goh Li Leng, 20, added, “I was blown away, not only by the miracles that God did, but also by his attitude! Just like the apostle Paul, he constantly faced persecution. What really impressed me was that even in the face of possible death, God is still able to use this man mightily. I really believe that the reason so many students responded to his altar call was because of his attitude—because we want the same anointing to be used by God mightily in order that His name will be lifted high and glorified when our turn to share comes.”
Christopher Alam Ministries International, or Dynamis World Ministries, as the ministry is known overseas, has offices in the USA, Sweden, Zimbabwe and Southeast Asia. They also have a full-time crusade team on the field in Africa and numerous evangelists/church-planters working in Asia.
