An invisible "shield" that could deflect any attack known to man has so far been confined in the realm of science fiction.

However, the persecution watchdog Open Doors USA has come out with a report attesting that such a God-given "protective shield" prevented a pastor from being killed by Islamist extremists who surrounded him at an undisclosed location in Southeast Asia.

Recalling the dramatic event, Pastor Amin said he once found himself surrounded by armed Islamist extremists. Their leader approached him and menacingly told him, "I am a faithful Muslim . . . so I have to participate in jihad."

Amin thought that he was about to suffer a gruesome death. But despite the terror that gripped his body, God gave him the courage to defiantly and fearlessly shout back: "Kill me if you must. Here I am!"

Upon hearing his words, the pastor's would-be attackers froze and could not even lift a finger at him. "Never had they seen such courage and calmness in the face of almost certain death," the Open Doors report says. "It was almost as if God had put a shield around the pastor they knew they couldn't penetrate."

News of Pastor Amin's courageous stand and God's apparent intervention to save him quickly spread in the area populated mostly by Muslims. Soon, Muslims began knocking on his door, all seeking salvation in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

As a result, Pastor Amin's church grew rapidly.

Speaking to Open Doors, the pastor said he plans to continue preaching the gospel to as many Muslims as he could reach. "My place is here, preaching the gospel to Muslims," he said. "If you love Christ, you follow Him and do His will. If you love and follow Christ, you will not be afraid."

Pastor Amin has organised youth evangelistic trips and established missionary schools and summer camps for Muslim children in the hope of drawing the younger generation of Muslims into the Christian fold.

His ministry has also been distributing Bibles and other Christian literature despite the inherent dangers in such undertakings.

Pastor Amin said he still receives death threats every now and then. But he said these threats don't deter him at all in pursuing his mission.

"I will never hide!" he emphatically declared.