By Esther Korson
Part 1 of 2
There was a family of Arab Christians living in Bethlehem in the 1990’s. Like most Christian Arabs, they were part of mainline churches like Orthodox or Catholic. They believed in Jesus, but didn’t really know Him. Since this is a testimony of one of the son’s, I’ll call his name ‘David’ as that was his favorite Bible character and I’ll tell the story from his perspective:
“When I was eleven years old, my mother, who had been quite ill, was miraculously healed by the Lord and came to know Him in a real way. My father and I also gave our lives to the Lord at that time. I was attending a Catholic school in Bethlehem, as it was a good school. I was a ‘child of the Intifada’. We were taught that the Jews and the Israelis especially were our enemies and that we should hate them, that Jesus was a Palestinian, etc. After I came to know the Lord in a real way, I started to read the Bible for the very first time and was shocked to discover that it was all Jewish! I couldn’t wait to tell that information to my religion teacher at school. I tried to approach it in a casual way, so I asked him, ‘What was Mary before she became Catholic?’
‘She was always Catholic,’ my teacher replied emphatically.
‘No, sir,’ I said happily, pleased with my discovery, ‘it says in the Bible that she was Jewish!’ This made my teacher so angry that he dragged me to the principle’s office and I was suspended from school for ten days for daring to even suggest that Mary had been Jewish! So later I tried to tell it to my grandmother, who was a religious woman. I simply said, ‘I started to read the Bible, and it says that Jesus is Jewish…’ She slapped me in the face and said, ‘Don’t ever, ever say such a terrible thing again!’ Later my parents came to me and said kindly, ‘Listen, we also know that what you’re saying is the truth. But for your own protection, it is not something that you should talk about again…’ So I continued to read the Bible, but I never talked about it again.
A few years later I was given a scholarship to attend a European Bible school. It was a very pro-Israel school, but because of my unpleasant experiences when I was eleven, I chose to ignore that part of it. After I had been there for a few weeks, I noticed that there was a distance between myself and the Lord. So I came before Him in prayer to find out what was wrong. He said to me, ‘If I ask you to do something, will you do it?’
‘Yes, Father, whatever you want,’ I told him.
‘What if I ask you to love and to bless and to forgive the Jewish people?’ He said.
‘No, Sir,’ I replied. ‘You have 1500 students here who love Israel. You don’t need me!’ And I refused to even consider it. But the distance between the Lord and me continued to grow, until finally one night I decided to pray. ‘Okay, Lord,’ I said, ‘I do.’
‘You do what?’ He queried.
‘I do what you asked me to do,’ I answered.
‘No, son, it doesn’t work like that,’ He told me. ‘It has to genuinely come from your heart…’
Finally, a few nights later, I prayed, ‘Father, I bless the Jewish people and I forgive them and I ask You to help me to love them.’”
There David was, a ‘Palestinian’ Arab Christian, from Bethlehem, born in the same village as his King, praying at last that simple prayer of reconciliation. “After I prayed,” he told me, “it was as if I could hear angels rejoicing and I felt God’s presence in such a powerful way that I kept repeating that sentence all night! It was awesome! The Lord told me many things that night, but one thing didn’t make any sense at all. He told me that the Jewish people would help me and bless me and that I would never feel like a stranger amongst them. I couldn’t imagine what that meant, as I lived in an Arab village and had no contact with Jewish people!”
A lot happened after that! David met an Israeli Believer from Jerusalem at the Bible School, and when he returned to Israel, he phoned him. Through him, he got a job with us. It was a dream of David’s to work on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, and we were just moving our business to a new location on Jaffa Road! He lived and worked with us for three years, until it was dangerous for him to stay in the country. He left for America—and joined me in obedience to the Lord on a two year speaking tour of Messianic Congregations across the States, plus one in Canada. Each time he shared his love for the Jewish people and for Israel, and also asked for prayer for the Arab Christians in the Holy Land, since most people didn’t even know they existed and they were being persecuted by the Muslins. It was very brave of him to publicly declare his love for Israel, and a few times his life was threatened by the PLO as a result of it. But the odd thing is that when you speak the truth in His love, He gives the grace and the faith and totally removes any fear. But of course, it still isn’t as easy as it sounds and truly does take courage!
In those days, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour (Shepherd’s Field) were primarily Christian villages, but that has drastically changed since the 1990’s, especially after Arafat took over the area. As reported by Arutz Sheva radio station, “There has been a sharp demographic shift in Bethlehem, where the Christian population went from a 60% majority in 1990 to a 40% minority in 2000 to about 15% of the city’s total population today. It is estimated that for the past 7 years more than 1000 Christians have been emigrating from the Bethlehem area annually. International human rights lawyer Justus Reid Weiner, who teaches at Hebrew University, said, “There are many examples of intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment, economic boycotts, torture, forced marriages, sexual harassment, and extortion,” he said. “PA officials are directly responsible for many of the attacks, and some Muslims who have converted to Christianity have been murdered.” It is clear that the Christians who remain seriously need our prayers!
In the Israeli controlled areas, Christian Arabs are free to practice their religious faith. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 25th quoted Prime Minister Netanyahu’s message to the Pope last week on his visit to Israel. “Israel’s minorities, over 1 million citizens who are Arabs, have full civil rights. Israel’s Christian population will always be free to practice their faith. This is the only place in the Middle East where Christians are truly free to practice their faith. They don’t have to fear. They don’t have to flee. At a time where Christians are under siege in so many places, in so many lands in the Middle East, I’m proud that in Israel Christians are free to practice their faith and that there is a thriving Christian community in Israel.”
In the second part of this blog, to be sent in a day or two, I have a special story to share. Meanwhile, pray for the Arab Christians here—the ones under the control of the Palestinian Authority and persecuted in numerous ways by Muslims—and the Arab Christians who are part of Israel.
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