Nabeel Quershi is the author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. It is his personal story where he transitioned from a committed Muslim to a follower of Jesus Christ. The book has made quite an impact. Nabeel has now moved to Houston, Texas to receive treatment for Stage IV stomach cancer. Detractors have made the outlandish statement that Nabeel’s cancer diagnosis is due to Allah’s revenge. Unthinkable that people could be so brazen. How does Nabeel respond? What are his thoughts? He is both a father and a husband. Cristie Johnston sat down for one hour and filmed with Quershi asking questions why he disaffiliated from Islam. Interestingly, both Christianity and Islam in North America is experiencing disaffiliation – the phenomenon known as “nones.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali told delegates at the American Atheist Convention, where we were filming, that atheists needed to turn their attention away from “Christians” and focus on radical Islamists.

To secularists, religion is “dangerous.” If you watch Bill Maher or listen to Sam Harris, you are left with the impression that Christians don’t know how to critically think. If we asked professing believers in Christ “critical questions” regarding their faith could they answer? People today query, “Is Jesus the only way to God, the only way to heaven?” Barna research indicates that a significant percentage of Christians, when polled, say there are multiple paths to eternal life.

We remember Nabeel, and his family, in our thoughts and prayers and ask you do to the same. Our documentary journey has taken us throughout the world and impacted us in many ways. Nabeel’s present challenge is no exception.

Cristie Jo: Recently you were diagnosed with stage 4-stomach cancer. What’s your prognosis and how has it impacted your faith?

Nabeel: They didn’t know what stage it was. So I thought, “Ok, this is at least 70%.” Then I had to come back in to get staged. Then later that week on Thursday they said, “This is at least stage 3,” and that meant my survival rate was at best 20%. And then they said, “Come in the next day and we’ll determine whether or not this is stage 4.” And I came back in the next day, and they did a scan and they said “In fact this has metastasized, uh, this is stage 4- stomach cancer,” which has a survival rate of 4%. Um and so you know 90%, 70%, even 20%, you can think, “I can beat the odds. I can do this. I can do this.” But when they come back and say you
have a 4% chance of surviving, you really don’t walk away thinking, “I can do this.” You walk away thinking, “I need miracle.” But here’s the thing—our God exists. Our God is real, and he is a miracle-working God.

Our documentary journey continues. Soon Cristie Johnston and I will film extended interviews with noted atheist Richard Dawkins and Richard Swinburne, a British philosopher. Swinburne is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Over the last 50 years Swinburne has been an influential proponent of philosophical arguments for the existence of God. You could not meet any more polar opposites that those two people. Stay with us on the journey. Soon we will be filming extended interviews in Oxford, England, with noted atheist Richard Dawkins and Richard Swinburne. You could not find any more polar opposites than these two men.

Read more about Nabeel Quershi at nabeelqureshi.com

Researchers, Drs. Jerry and Cristie Jo Johnston, are Executive Producing a quick-paced film via trans continental, staccato interviews documenting the shocking rise of the non-religious.