Converting from Islam to Christianity could result in intense persecution in this Middle East country, but on Oct. 2, God proved Himself faithful when He created a dust storm and “blocked the road” against people who were trying to kill Christians.

According to Bibles for Mideast, an underground ministry that distributes Bibles and plants house churches in the region, the church went to the Arabian Sea for the baptism of 24 new believers who have turned their backs on Islam to follow Christ.

The new believers themselves insisted on being baptized in water because they wanted to be “purified in the Spirit and the Water as the Bride to meet the Bridegroom.”

“So we together prayed with fasting and obeyed the great commission of the Lord to the baptism candidates,” Pastor Paul, Bibles for Mideast director, said.

A group of about 50 people set out early one morning and traveled by bus to the baptism site. After the new believers were baptized, they prayed together and boarded the bus. They all wanted to go back to the church in time for the worship service and the communion, and they finished earlier than they expected.

As they made their way back, three or more cars suddenly caught up behind their bus. The people in the cars turned out to be militants. They wanted to kill the Christians and started shooting at them.

“We kept secret about our baptism service. But we don’t know how it was leaked to the militants,” one of the newly baptized believers, Rizwan, said. “Maybe it was the militants’ plan to kill us in the sea during the baptism service. But somehow we finished our service earlier and tried to return back.”

The bus driver tried to make the bus run faster, but the cars sped up, too. They couldn’t outrun the cars chasing them.

Not knowing what to do, the Christians prayed and cried out to God for protection. They all thought they were going to die, until something strange happened — a giant dust storm formed out of nowhere between their bus and the cars chasing them.

“Suddenly we saw a giant dust storm formed behind our bus,” Rizwan recounted. “At first we all afraid of seeing the dust storm. We thought we may not be able to go beyond and will be held by the militants.”

To their surprise, the dust storm concealed them from the militants. They could still hear gunshots, but the militants’ vehicles got caught in the dust storm and could not catch up with them.

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord again and again!” Rizwan said. “Jesus saved us. He Himself blocked the road of militants in the form of a dust storm.”

The group was able to make it back to the church safely, and they worshiped God with great rejoicing.