Bishop Jonathan Ansar
Guest Speaker at the 12th Annual Camp 2007

Bishop Jonathan Ansar oversees over 400 churches in India, has been ministering for over 27 years and has preached in 36 nations worldwide. His crusades -- where miracles and healings occur have had up to 300,000 people at a time. During his years of ministry he has seen six people raised from the dead. A number of attempts have been made on his life and he has always been miraculously saved. This includes two incidents of ingesting deadly poison. During his early years as a Christian, he spent time in prison for smuggling Bibles into China, where he baptised 30 inmates.

Bishop Jonathan Ansar can speak 18 different languages and is a modern day apostle, with signs and wonders following him. His preaching is extremely humorous and challenging because of his anti-religious approach.

Background

Jonathan Ansar was born into an Orthodox Muslim family on 10th December 1950. His father was from South Yemen, an Arab, and his mother from Pakistan, a Punjabi. In 1950, while on their way to Burma, they passed through India, and the mother of Sayed Ansar Hussain (now Jonathan Ansar) went through sudden delivery and he was born in a hospital in Bombay, India.

Jonathan was brought up and educated in Burma as his father was serving in the Burmese Army as a Doctor. His mother was serving in Rangoon University as a Professor of English Literature and Home Science.

In 1968, two years into studies to become a Doctor of Medicine, Jonathan joined the Burmese army, where he was commissioned as an officer in the 101 Special Infantry Commando Force. In 1974 he was wounded in the Front Line while in the battle with the Chinese, which resulted in having to walk permanently with crutches. Jonathan was medically unfit to continue in the Military Service and was boarded out by request.

Pre-Christian experience

As a young child he was trained in Islamic Religious Education to be a Haffiz, which means 'the one who memorised the Koran from cover to cover.' As he left the army and went back home in Rangoon (Burma), an influential Muslim youth Movement from Burma asked him to join them as their General Secretary of their Organisation. He accepted therefore served as a Muslim youth leader in 1976. He became bitter against Christians who were preaching the Gospel in Burma.

As he was moving towards preventing Muslims getting converted to the Christian fold, he published an article "Jesus Died in Kashmir", a two page pamphlet which states that Jesus was not crucified on the cross, but instead of him another person who looked like Jesus was crucified. The pamphlet states that Jesus came away from that place and died a natural death in Kashmir where his grave is still there till this day.

As a former gang member, Jonathan had learnt the art of martial arts and was five duns above black belt. He could kill with his bare hands. As a contract killer he had made several successfull deliveries and had even worked for government officials.

After publishing the article, one night as he was writing letters regarding how to stop Christian preachers reaching Muslims, he suddenly experienced a startling vision and became stiff in his whole body. His eyes were covered with a thick darkness and he was not able to see anything for a long time. He saw that he was falling into a deep pit. As he fell he called out the names of all the gods and religious teachers he knew, but he continued falling. Then a thought came into his mind to call the name of Jesus, the one whose people he was persecuting. He called out the name of Jesus and immediately he stopped falling and remained in mid-air.

Within that thick darkness he saw a small light coming out from a pin point area which soon occupied the whole space of darkness. The light was shinning with golden rays coming out from it. Then he noticed a small thing which seemed to be a shaded image of a cross which grew into a huge cross and blood started falling like waterfalls from it, slowly at first and then gradually dripping faster until it was like a waterfall. While watching the same vision, the cross came very close to him and passed through his body. He then heard a voice saying, "I have chosen you to bear my name among all nations".

When he regained his consciousness the next day, he realised that he had been admitted to a mental hospital by his parents where he spent 10 days. Although he had not lost his mind, his parents believed he had because he had changed as a result of the vision.

Next Page >> | 1 2 3

Back to 12th Annual Camp page