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Catholic convert Dr. Mario Joseph talking about the decision of his mother to ignore the doctors' advice and not abort him. Frame from video

December 23, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – I have increasingly felt that the only real solution to the growth of violent Islamism will be the mass conversion of Muslims to Christianity – the greatest gift and act of true love that they could possibly receive. Dr. Mario Joseph is such a convert and his personal story and his talk about celebrating Christmas give powerful witness to that precious gift of faith in Jesus Christ given to him.

In the past, conversion of Muslims to Christianity has always been very difficult because of Islam’s built-in threat to the lives of anyone who dares to question or leave Islam for another religion. Today, however, the Internet has been freeing many Muslims from all the falsehoods Muslim leaders and the Koran tell about Jesus Christ and Christians. It has permitted them to consider wonderful things that were always absolutely forbidden to them to even think about or listen to.

Muslim converts therefore often far outshine in faith, and desire to share that faith, most cradle Catholics or Christians of various denominations who have not experienced persecution for their beliefs.

I have read on various websites that millions of Muslims are now discovering the true religion of peace, but still at great cost to themselves. That is why we don’t hear much about this. Most of these stories of conversion have to be kept relatively quiet to protect the lives of the converts and the lives of those bringing them to Christ.

Mario Joseph is one prominent convert, who was raised in a very devout Muslim home, became an Imam himself at the age of 18 and then found, especially through an open-minded study of the Koran, the truth about the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Mario, a Muslim from the Indian state of Kerala, eventually became a Syro-Malabar Catholic and a prominent charismatic Catholic evangelist who, among many other things, preaches and counsels persons with addictions at the Divine Retreat Center in Muringoor, Chalakudy.

I visited that world’s largest Catholic retreat centre in 2006, a few days after interviewing Kerala’s Cardinal Varkey. LifeSite co-founder John-Henry Westen gave many talks to several thousand retreat attendees there in 2006 and again in 2007.

The story of Mario’s conversion is a powerful and inspiring story. It also contains a wonderful pro-life message related to Mario's birth. Mario explains some amazing things that are in the Koran that both Muslims and Christians are not aware of. See the video where Mario tells his story below. It was produced by a Catholic religious order of sisters in Spain.

The Christmas part of this article is Dr. Joseph’s simple, but wonderful talk, How to Celebrate Christmas in the video below. This is a very simple, home-made production, befitting the utter simplicity of the birth of Christ in a stable. Dr. Joseph’s talk, however, contains much good counsel and wisdom that will benefit all who watch it.

Keep in mind, although his English is quite understandable, his first language is the Kerala language of Malayalam. Therefore, there are some notable spelling errors in the video and in some of his articles and his English is not perfect.

The most amazing thing is that this Christmas inspiration and direction is given by a former Muslim Imam. The depth of belief of the speaker is inspiring because of the great personal cost that accompanied his conversion.

He also has a website for those who wish to learn more about him and his specific ministry

Brief summary of Dr. Mario’s current activities:

He is a guest speaker for catechism for the entire Syro Malabar Catholic Church. A guest speaker for national and state charismatic teams. He works with an Indian Catholic youth movement which is under the Catholic Bishop’s Conference in India. He has preached the word of God in Latin America, Central America, Europe, African and Asian countries such as Singapore etc. He also travelled across the world for his success coaching as well, such as in St. Thomas university in Spain and Christ university. He has given talks in the Divine retreat center in 7 languages for the last 20 years. He conducts his 7-day retreat programs all across the world.

Presently Dr. Mario and his better half travel all around the word conducting seminars for broken families irrespective of caste, religion or language.

RELATED: The Joy (and Cost) of the Gospel for young former Muslim, Nabeel Qureshi