Pastor Ramil ibn-Farid Altunbaev, MD
My name is Ramil ibn-Farid Altunbaev. I was born in Uzbekistan to a devout Muslim family — Quran, Ramadan, and Hajj were core values. I prayed to Allah in Arabic by mind. My Granma, though, kept saying, “But remember, besides Muhammad the prophet there is also Isa ibn Maryam!”
In my 6th year of training at a medical school I found “More Than a Carpenter” book by Josh McDowell someone “left” in the cafeteria. At first, I thought the prayer in the end of the book had some kind of magical power to it. I would chant the prayer like a mantra before exams. And, since I was an all “A” student I figured I got it right. But then, I “accidentally” went to a local church, and saw this Isa ibn Maryam — Jesus Christ the LORD — in each and every face, whether young or old, male or female. I repented in “sackcloth and ashes” …
While being a medical intern I planted a church in Koygorodok, Komi (population 3,000; 916 miles NE from Moscow). Then I moved 7 hours up the road to become the Head of the Health Department of Ukhta. The KGB offered me the position of the Minister of Health of the Komi Region if I deny Christ. I denied the offer to remain a minister of God — became the pastor of a church in Ukhta, Komi (population 95,960; 1,012 miles NE of Moscow).
And here I am … I am a doctor (MD, Anesthesiologist Reanimatologist). I deal with physically sick people all the time. I am a pastor (of “The Well of Life” … better known in town as “The Great Physician” church). I deal with spiritually sick people all the time. And I — especially these days under the coronavirus pandemic — serve as a common denominator of the two, just like Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)
And I am also a student at the Moscow Seminary. For the Lord gave me the Spirit. The med school gave me knowledge of the body. The seminary gives me understanding of the soul. And so, I study and I pray, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify me through and through. May my whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).