An armed man slipped past security to assassinate evangelist Nick Vujicic but the message preached by the very man he came to kill ended up saving his life.
Nick Vujicic was born in Australia without arms or legs. His early childhood was marked by deep depression and severe bullying until he gave his life to Jesus Christ at fifteen.
Nick often shares his testimony saying “When you don’t get a miracle you can still be a miracle for someone else in the hands of the Lord.” That faith turned a life without limbs into a global message of hope. He started preaching worldwide but his growing influence made him some dangerous enemies.
During a previous trip to Indonesia, 70,000 people had converted to Christianity over seven days. The massive response angered local extremists. When Nick’s team announced a return trip in 2007 they received a blunt email. The sender warned “If you come back and I see more Islamic people convert to Christianity I’m going to myself kill you.” Nick knew exactly the risk he was taking.
Nick went back anyway. He stood before the crowd and preached just as he had done before. Somewhere in that room the Muslim man who sent the email was waiting. He had slipped his weapon past security and positioned himself to shoot. He watched a man with no arms and no legs talk about a God who loved him enough to die for him. And then something broke.
Most of us would have expected a threat like that to end in violence. But God intervened. The gospel pierced his heart and transformed his life right there.
Days later Nick received another email from the same man. He confessed his original plan and wrote “I actually came there to kill you I came armed I got through the security and I was ready to actually shoot you but I heard you this time and I gave my life to Jesus Christ instead.”
The transformation didn’t stop with him. He went home and preached to his relatives and all eighty of them accepted Jesus and converted to Christianity. There is something holy about grace that spreads that fast.
Nick later reflected on the near death experience saying we must understand that “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” He realized that delayed obedience is disobedience so he kept preaching in places like Iran where thousands asked him to speak about his faith.
When Nick got that threat, he didn’t step back. He didn’t cancel the trip or play it safe. He went back and preached the same gospel to the same people. That kind of courage doesn’t come from us. It comes from God. And Nick isn’t the only one. Right now, as you read this, many men and women are preaching the gospel in the most dangerous places in the world, and they are risking their lives to do it.
Persecution against Christians is far worse than most of us think. More than 388 million Christians now face persecution or the risk of violence for their faith, a record high. In the last reporting year, 4,849 believers were killed for following Jesus, which is about 13 every single day.
More than 224,000 Christians were forced out of their homes. And there are still many places in the world where the gospel has not reached at all.
The Bible says, “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them” (Hebrews 13:3). So let’s not forget them. In our daily prayers, let’s remember every person doing ministry in these dangerous places, and the believers who live there and follow Jesus at great cost. And let’s ask God to give us the same strength and courage to preach the gospel wherever He sends us.
WATCH: He Came to Kill Nick Vujicic and Got Saved Instead
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