Jameel Essop is the Provincial Chairperson to the African Christian Democratic Party in KwaZulu-Natal.

He serves as a councillor in the eThekwini Municipality, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

His passion for justice and equity, had seen Jameel Essop serve in the Human Trafficking, Harmful Traditions, Prostitution, Pornography & Brothel Task Team in KwaZulu-Natal. He firmly believes, that true justice is in liberating people from those wicked elements in society.

As the former Deputy Chairman of STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING NOW, he hosts many workshops and dialogues on Trafficking, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse. He believes restoring the dignity is restoring the future of a nation.

Welcome to 12-Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Jamil.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

Likewise, Angel Jones, it's great to connect with you.

I am in Durban, South Africa.

How long have you been there?

I've been born in South Africa, so I'm 45 years old, and so 45 years in South Africa, God has picked me here.

That's amazing.

Have you traveled extensively?

Yes, I've traveled to Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Malawi.

Yeah, those were some of the countries that I've traveled.

I've received invitations to travel to other parts of the world.

I've just not rushed into it until I hear God clearly.

Most of these travels were for training and development, and for building my spirit man.

Through those opportunities, I also had the ability to impart into some of those local churches that were there as well.

How did you come to meet Jesus?

Let me be upfront.

Firstly, I come from a very strong Muslim community and Muslim family.

My family has always trained me that you must respect and love Allah and Muhammad the most.

From the age of seven years old, I have been one that was a fervent believer in what the Quran mentioned, where you go to mosque five times a day, you read the Quran, you study the Quran, you understand the Islamic background.

All my childhood life, I grew up committed and dedicated.

From the age of seven, you're considered as a Muslim to be in manhood, and so you must practice the religion.

I grew up in that culture.

I was going to be a priest in my family.

I had a school friend, a high school friend.

Today, his brother is a pastor.

He kept harassing me to come to youth meetings.

He said, let's come to youth meeting, there's good girls.

I said to him, no, I'm not interested in good girls.

I'm interested in good values and those types of things.

One day, he asked his mom to invite me to a gathering at their home, which was a Salah meeting.

Because he asked his mom, and I grew up in a culture of respecting elders, I said, okay, I'm coming.

On my way to that meeting, in my mind, I'm contemplating, how do I tell the family, especially my friend, about Muhammad and Allah?

I was walking there, I got to the home, and the family welcomed me.

They made me sit at the room.

I participated in listening to whatever was being shared.

Through the process, I was contemplating, how am I going to tell them about Muhammad and Allah?

At the end, at every prayer, someone's called to close the meeting.

There was a lady that was called to close the meeting prayer, and I felt the power of the Holy Spirit hit me, and in my mind, I said, Lord Jesus Christ, I give you my heart.

And so, I've come to realize through scripture in Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

Before you were born, I set you apart.

I appointed you as a prophet to nations.

So, that scripture has come so alive to me that as I was journeying to my friend's home with the anticipation that I was going to tell them about my passion, and my values, and my religion, which was Allah and Muhammad, never did I realize that God was actually setting me up to now come into His master plan.

And so, so often we forget that no matter what our plans, or no matter what our intentions, God has a greater plan and a greater purpose for each one of us.

You know, I was going there just like Saul, you know, on his road to Damascus, you know, but never did I realize that God was setting, like how He set Saul up, He was setting me up for His master plan.

And so, I encountered God from that day till this very day.

My love for Him has only intensified as I studied the word, and I've gotten to know Him through the Holy Spirit in a much more intimate way.

That's an amazing story.

How did your family react?

In the beginning, when I shared the news with my friend after that Salem meeting, he thought I was joking that I was coming to bomb the church, because my family are fundamentalists in Durban, South Africa.

We actually, my family brings Muslim priests to debate with pastors.

And so, I said to them that I needed to join Bible school.

And so, I was a secret believer for one year going to Bible school and also going to church.

But when my family, you know, there was a morning where I woke up and the Holy Spirit said, this is the day.

But I knew if I shared the message at my home, I would leave with a coffin.

I would leave dead.

So, I shared the news at my family's home where I invited, my friend's home where I invited my family over.

And they beat me.

I remember my uncle putting the gun in my mouth and my mother said, kill the traitor.

And he tried to, you know, pull the trigger.

But no, no, no, no.

And, you know, nothing came out.

And when he heard the police siren and they moved the gun out of my mouth, you know, aside to my head, you know, the trigger let go.

And so, you know, God's plans were greater.

And so, from that day, my family, you know, abandoned me, ostracized me.

But like I said in the beginning when we were chatting and my prayer that God's word carries life and it carries the spirit.

And so, when you embrace his word and you allow his word to work on the inside of you, everything that is dead on the inside comes alive.

And then as it comes alive on the inside of you, you see it starts to manifest around you.

So, I want to thank God for his word that has become life to me and sustenance to me, not just inside, but around me that even though what my family had disconnected me from, God has raised me up to become a strategic individual that right now I still carry influence in my family once again as God began to make me go back into the territory to impact and influence them.

Sounds like Joseph's story a bit, yeah?

Yes, yes.

It was just like Joseph, you know, I believe that too often as Christians, we carry the noise rather than the authentic voice of God.

And I believe authenticity comes when somebody is able to take the word and allow the word to shape their life so that the word and their life can become one.

And so, I'm more stronger on placing the demand on modeling the word.

And so, as I model the word, you know, three of my family members, my uncle who put the gun in my mouth, two of his sons and their families got up one day and they said, you know, we want our family to be like your family.

And so, we decided between myself and my wife that we're going to be taking our entire family with our kids to church.

So, they grow up like how we have seen you and your family live with respect, with honor, with dignity.

And so, three of my family members just by observation of myself and my family have given their heart to the Lord.

And so, that's why I believe that if we are able to become living apostles, we are able to impact our communities, our cities, and those that are around us in a much more beneficial way, not what we're seeing today where people are saying the church is too much of a noise, where there is no authentic lifestyle in the way we conduct ourselves on a daily basis.

I always believe that our transition to Christianity has within it the signs of what our ministry is going to be like.

You would have been in a situation where there was no vindicator for your decision until you met Jesus.

And interestingly enough, from reading and researching who you are, you've now been the person who stands in the gap for others.

Please tell us more about the work you do today.

Currently, I'm in government.

I serve in the local municipality, but within my political organization, I serve on the national structure.

You know, God has raised me up to be just like Joseph, to rise.

And the word Jeremiah is to be a prophet to the nations.

And so, it's ministry, but also it's government.

So, I serve and I champion righteousness in the space of government.

And I believe that, you know, when I became a Christian, one of the things God has always challenged me with is I want you to be a role model and a first fruit company.

And I did not realize that within the church, we had people that would attend church, but not necessarily live out scripture.

And so, when I crossed over and I started to go to church, I saw the hypocrisy within the church.

You know, but one of the things that it helped build on the inside of me was not bitterness, but it helped me to understand how I need to stand in the gap on behalf of my brothers and sisters.

Why?

Because somebody prayed for me, you know, and somebody sowed in prayer for me that God was merciful towards me by bringing me from darkness into his marvelous light.

So, one of the things I love is about standing in the gap on behalf of people, standing in the gap on behalf of nations, interceding and praying, but also being actively involved.

Besides that, I'm very passionate about gender-based violence, combating gender-based violence in South Africa.

It's a huge problem.

Child abuse, human trafficking, and ensuring that the injustice

that is in the world, which was planted by the devil, you know, when he was cast from,

you know, God's throne and, you know, his nature changed and he polluted the earth,

is to partner with the Holy Spirit so that we can drive out the devil and his injustice in this

world so that we can restore every life, restore every community, restore every street, every city,

every nation back to the order of God.

It is my firm belief that God had two homes in Genesis chapter 1.

He had heaven and earth, and the Bible says that they were identical.

So, earth was God's dwelling place as well.

But it is our responsibility as Jesus has finished his work so that we partner with the Holy Spirit and the Father so that we clean up this earth once again from every form of decay, decline, and death, and we bring it back to its original plan and purpose.

You know, it's not God's intention that we hurry to get to heaven, but it's God's intention that we co-labor with him to restore this earth so that it is his home, it is his dwelling, and we must cast the devil out of this earth over here.

So, that's my passion, to rebuild this earth and to make it God's habitation once again.

Five years from today, you're listening to this conversation.

What's a message you'd leave for future you?

I want to say to every one of you that God has a plan.

God has a purpose for you.

It's not about your circumstance, it's not about your situation, neither is it about your family or your upbringing, but it's about God's plan.

Hold on to God's word and allow his word to shape your spirit, shape your mind, shape you first.

And once he shapes you, then everything else around you will start to shape and become like heaven upon the earth.

Jesus said we must pray, thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

And so, my closing remarks is let heaven manifest itself in you, around you, so that the Lord Jesus can reign once again.

Jameel, a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired by Torment and Conflicts.