Hezbollah, which literally means the Party of God, is an Islamic paramilitary group and extremist political party based out of Lebanon. It is reportedly backed by the Iranian government and the group’s name was given to it by Ayatollah Khomeini and was initially started with 1,500 men from the Iranian National Guard.

And to this day, one of Hezbollah’s primary goals is to eliminate Israel as a nation.

So it is all the more amazing when you read of a former Hezbollah fighter, Afshin Javid, conversion to Christ. Javid who leads a ministry called Cyrus Call shared his story with CBN.

He was traveling to the US with the goal of converting Christians to Islam when he was arrested in Malaysia. At this point, Javid was absolutely devoted to Islam and read through his Koran completely every ten days.

He prayed daily, hated the Jews, and believed that Hitler was a good person, because of what he did to the Jews, but failed because he hadn’t finished the job.

But one day as he was reading his Koran in a Malaysian prison, a man, covered in a bright light, appeared before Javid. Javid instinctively knew this man was holy and despite his faithfulness to Islam, Javid initially believed he was being judged for his sins by an emissary sent by Allah.

He cowered in the corner of his cell pleading for forgiveness.

This man then grabbed Javid’s left arm pulling him up while telling the former terrorist “I forgive you.”

Javid immediately felt this weight lift off him but was now more confused because according to his beliefs, only Allah could forgive sin, but this man had forgiven him.

“Still, I say, okay, I don’t understand. Only God can forgive, but you just forgave me. You are God, but you are a different God than the one I have studied about. This is not Allah. So who are you that forgives me? And he said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Javid told CBN.

At this point, Javid asked for the man’s name and He answered Jesus Christ. At this moment, Javid completely lost all his strength and fell to the ground weeping.

When you look at the Christian faith, Jesus said that we not only needed to forgive our enemies, we needed to love them (Matthew 5:44).

Though he hated the Jews, Javid admitted, “No Jew had ever done anything bad to me.”

“God didn’t design us to hate; he didn’t design us to want to see someone dead,” Javid continued. “He did not design us for these things. These are designs of Satan. How do you think killing the people to whom God gave this land is going to please Allah? Jesus is not a God that celebrates when Jews are killed.”

Such conversions, particularly among the Hezbollah, would be extremely dangerous. So it takes a miraculous, unexplainable intervention for such individuals to abandon Islam and embrace Christ.

It is very similar to the conversion that happened to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus.

Paul, who at this point was called Saul, was actively torturing and imprisoning Christians. His conversion also happened as a result of a direct encounter with the living Christ, that completely transformed his life.

³ As he [Paul] journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. ⁴ Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
⁵ And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:3-5 NIV)

Javid’s conversion not only confirms the Apostle Paul’s testimony but also reveals that Jesus is still personally encountering people today.

READ: ‘God Didn’t Design Us to Hate’: Former Hezbollah Fighter Now Ministry Leader Recalls Encounter with Jesus