"The Bible clearly presented who Jesus Christ is and provided answers as to why he will be coming back into the world," Lawal said. "The Spirit told me that unless I receive Christ into my heart, I will perish with other Muslims because they do not know the true God."

His family stiffly opposes his conversion, but Lawal said there is no returning to Islam.

"Nothing on earth will make me turn away from Christ," he said, "not even if I will be slaughtered like a ram."

Draconian Decrees

Since the introduction of the sharia in January 2000, Zamfara authorities have banned Christians from sharing their faith or building churches, said Anglican Bishop Danbinta.

Officials are keeping Christians from building churches, he said, by making it impossible for them to acquire land. "We cannot get land, because there is a deliberate government policy to deny Christians land to build churches," Bishop Danbinta said.

There are about 4,000 Anglicans in Zamfara, yet Bishop Danbinta said that in almost all parts of the state the government has refused to allow the church land to build places of worship.

"Sharia, it would seem, is being implemented to curtail Christianity, since it is only targeted at Christians," he said.