Thursday, March 4, 2010

Son of Hamas Leader Comes to Faith in Jesus Christ (Pt2)

* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: HOW THE SON OF THE HAMAS LEADER CAME TO FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST -- PART TWO
By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., March 3, 2010) -- The following is an interview I did with Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of the new book, Son of Hamas.

JOEL: How has your life changed since becoming a born again Christian? Specifically, how have your attitudes towards Israel changed since your dramatic conversion?

MOSAB: My conscience is not the same. This doesn't mean that I became a perfect person but at least when I do a mistake I know how to fix it and avoid it in the future. Today, I am free from sin because I am the son of the King. When I first understood how religion is imperfect in general - and in Islam in particular - and allowed myself to accept Christ as my personal Savior and get out of the box of religion, not only did Israel look different to me, I started to see everything differently. I remember one day walking in Jerusalem right after I studied the Scripture that says give to those who ask you. [Jesus said in Matthew 5:42, "Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."] There was a homeless Jew in the Jewish side of Jerusalem, and I answered the call of the Lord to share with him some of the change in my pocket. Then I sat down and cried because I had the chance to understand the unconditional love God has for everybody. It was shocking to me that I never felt sorry for a homeless Jew. Then gradually - through God's grace and mercy, through the years - all humans became equal to me. My people see the sun every day but they never ask themselves why the sun shines on both east and west Jerusalem. The easiest thing to me was to hate my enemy but the real challenge was to love them. Later on I realized my enemy was not man anymore - not Israeli, not Palestinian - but sin and darkness within us.

JOEL: What can followers of Jesus do in real and practical ways to love the Palestinian people and reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ?

MOSAB: This is an excellent question, thank you. Christians have a huge duty to love his neighbor and his enemy. Every Christian needs to carry this heavy cross. Loving Muslims and Palestinians is our responsibility. And our duty as Christians to show God's love toward Muslims is more important than governments, the United Nations and the international community. All of those don't have a clue how to deal with the Islamic problem. We know as Christians that the conflict is spiritual and ideological. You can't kill an idea. You have to replace it. Governments can send troops to change a regime or kill terrorists, but they don't have the type of weapons that we have - love and hope and grace.

Today, I need from my Christian brothers and sisters to....

[TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW, PLEASE CLICK TO MY WEBLOG]

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