Salvation Revealed
Elbrus, a 30-year-old man from Azerbaijan, grew up in a family of atheists. “There is no God” was the thinking all through his childhood. His brother, though, turned to a faith that his family disagreed with and thus condemned him. Elbrus began to think about his brother’s faith but could not make a decision about it.
One day Elbrus heard two people speaking about God and, thinking he knew something about God, joined their conversation. He quickly found out they were speaking of the God of the Bible.
Because of his lack of education, he had trouble explaining to them that he doesn’t believe in that God. One of the men, Namik, offered to meet separately with Elbrus.
"I could not imagine these words were written in the Bible. Now, I understand… Jesus is [my] Savior."
At their meeting, Elbrus had many questions for Namik because he had heard a lot of bad things about Christianity from his brother. The two men had a hard time understanding one another so Namik suggested Elbrus bring his older brother to the next meeting.
During the meeting, his brother insulted and threatened Namik, telling him, “If you speak to my brother about Jesus, I will kill you.” Namik was silent – he did not reply to this threat and this touched Elbrus deeply.
Elbrus thought, “Why did Namik not say anything to my brother? Why did he not reply to the evil words with evil words?” Elbrus thought about this a lot and decided to apologize for what his brother said. He tried to explain to Namik that they had their own religion and that he could never accept Jesus.
Namik responded to Elbrus by giving him a Mini Proclaimer. Namik told him, “Listen to it while you are alone at home.” Elbrus did.
He says, “When I listened, I felt like I was in another, unusual world. I understood the great difference between Jesus and other gods. I could not imagine these words were written in the Bible. Now, I understand. Jesus is my Savior.”
When his brother found out about his transformation, he decided to separate from Elbrus, dividing the house.
Elbrus remains strong in the Lord as he says, “We have big problems in our family because of my faith. The whole family is against me; my friends left me. But I pray for my family and friends so salvation would also be revealed to them as it was revealed to me. After Jesus entered my life, I saw everything clear and understood the truth. The Mini Proclaimer is a great blessing.”
