Can radio change lives? For the past 21 years, I have been involved in several roles with the nightly Somali-language broadcast The Voice of the New Life [VNL]. I’ve read thousands of letters and emails that have come in from listeners. On a few occasions, our Lord has given me opportunities to actually meet listeners and hear their testimonies of the life-transforming power of the Gospel.

Recently I met Weheliye, a remarkable man who had been emailing our office for the past five years. I wrote about Weheliye’s baptism when he made his first visit to Addis Abeba in June, 2008. In the intervening year and a half, Weheliye’s life has been in turmoil, as he has moved between Somalia and Ethiopia several times. His wife is adamantly opposed to his new faith in Christ. Currently he lives in a refugee camp in eastern Ethiopia; he arrived in Addis Abeba the same time I did in early February. His purpose was to apply for asylum status on the basis of religious persecution. If this is granted by officials, he’ll be allowed to move to the capital city.

Broadcasts penetrate the heart

As we sat on some benches under a spreading acacia tree just outside the VNL office, Weheliye told me his life story. “My entire life has been during different episodes of national craziness. When has Somalia been sane since independence?” he began. As a teenager in drought-stricken central Somalia, Weheliye and his family were relocated by the government in 1974 on massive Russian transport planes—sent to collective farms in more fertile lands in the Shabeelle river valley further south. After Somalia’s flirtation with Marxism soured after the 1977 Ogaden war, Weheliye’s clan was one of the first to rebel against the government. Conditions for him and his family worsened even more when the civil war reached the south in 1991 and the national government collapsed. Feeling unwelcome there, they returned to their ancestral grazing lands further north. Weheliye became a livestock dealer, purchasing truckloads of goats from nomads to sell for export to Arabia in the port city of Boosaaso. It was during this time he began listening to VNL. At first it was casual, then by 2002 the good news began to touch his heart and he regularly tuned in. “My wife used to ask me, ‘Why are you listening to that infidel program?’… I made the excuse I just wanted to be aware of what they were saying, so I could oppose it better. Later on, I just had to keep the volume turned really low whenever she was around.”

I asked Weheliye what he particularly liked about our VNL programs. “Hearing more details about the lives of the prophets, organized in a chronological sequence was really interesting for me. In the Quran, many of these prophets are mentioned, but the stories seemed so disorganized, more like hearsay than like history. I also appreciated the programs about the parables of Jesus Christ … like the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son. The orderly description of Creation was fascinating for me, since the Quran lacks that … it tells only that God created the world, but not in the way the Bible does. The truth that mankind is created in God’s image was new for me and also very appealing.”

Weheliye went on to share more family tragedies. Two of his brothers were killed in the civil war, and he has responsibility for raising their children. Together with his own, he has nine children; he would like to teach them to follow the Messiah. Weheliye confided that he feared the creeping influence of the ultra-fanatic Al-Shabaab militia spreading from southern Somalia to his home in the central region. “My own sons are being forced to memorize more than 30 songs in Arabic. I want nothing more than to bring all my children here, to get them away from those influences.”

My conversation with Weheliye was both extremely encouraging and sobering. On the one hand, he testified to the fact that the Holy Spirit had used the VNL broadcast to bring himself into a saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior. He had never met another Christian nor saw any Christian literature until he came to Addis Abeba for the first time in 2008. On the other hand, Weheliye was undergoing the trials that disciples of Christ so often encounter within societies hostile to the Gospel.

A few days after our conversation, Weheliye had to return to his camp. At staff devotions, he asked to share a few parting words. “I’ve been told by relatives that I can easily return to my home town. All I have to do is go into the mosque, address the congregation with the microphone and say, ‘I am a Muslim.’” Weheliye gazed intently at us all, then pointed to his heart. “I will never do that. I have confidence in my heart from Christ. I will live in that confidence, and I will die in that confidence.”

Pray

Pray for Weheliye: that he will be able to raise his children to follow the Prince of Peace. Intercede that the Holy Spirit will give grace to Weheliye’s wife to trust Christ. Ask our Heavenly Father to make it possible for Weheliye to use his considerable poetic and oratorical talents within the VNL staff. Finally, plead for the impossible: that someday in the future Weheliye can return to his hometown and worship there freely. In the meantime, give thanks with me that we are given glimpses of God’s grace working in amazing ways in the hearts of listeners. Rejoice in the Power of the Gospel!

Give

You can help spread the good news to people like Weheliye in places that are difficult to reach in other ways. Donate to the Radio Impacts Muslims project today!