The story of our student Zineb from Morocco
Since 2006, Zineb has had a heartfelt desire to study theology. After moving into full-time ministry with a Christian media center in 2010, she became a speaker and presenter of a Christian TV show seen by tens of thousands of North Africans. Since she had to present biblical devotions, Zineb needed to be well versed in interpreting Scriptures faithfully. Sensing the need for theological education, she joined our Online Certificate in Ministry program in July 2016 and graduated in June 2017. At that time, she could not put her ministry on hold to join our residential Bachelor of Theology program in Lebanon. Today, with our move to a new hybrid model, Zineb is pursuing her Bachelor of Theology at ABTS through our Integrated Theology Program.
How did she come to find Christ and follow Him wholeheartedly? Here is Zineb’s Story.
It is not easy for a woman to live in a fundamentalist North African community. She can rarely choose a destiny for herself different from the one her guardians chose for her. Zineb was born to a conservative non-Christian family, but even as a young child, she had displayed signs of intellectual independence. At sixteen, she began to contact a Christian foundation secretly by email. “Our exchanges taught me much about the character of Christ,” she shared, “and I learned that Christ would come again in the last days, so I began to wait for His return with all my heart and all my mind.”
After graduating from high school, Zineb and her brother went to pursue their college education in Russia where she got to read the Bible, and soon, she fell in love with it. At that time, she said, “I did not intend to change my faith, yet I had a feeling that God was right beside me.”
“In 1999, I saw a dream that changed the course of my life. I saw that I was watching over a group of children. One of them ran across the street and was hit by a bus. When I approached the scene of the accident, I heard a man say that the child is dead. I stood before the child’s corpse and declared, ‘In Jesus’ name, I tell you to rise!’ And, indeed, he came back to life.” Zineb returned from Russia to Morocco in 2003 to get her papers ready to move to Spain. During her stay in Morocco, she found out that the child she saw in her dream was indeed hit by a bus, but he miraculously survived. Through this experience God showed Zineb the power of Christ’s name. She experienced many other miracles that confirmed to her that she was on the right path.
“I had reached a point where I wanted to give my life to Christ. At the same time, I didn’t want to go against my family, and I wondered if God would still accept me if I left my religion. Having decided to follow Christ in 2003, my brother first found out about my faith, and then the rest of my family found out, and they tried to stop me in all sorts of ways. For the next five years, I could not practice my faith openly. I felt so alone, and yet I knew that He was with me.”