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An old Palestinian gets a new name

We have some friends who live near the Minneapolis area. Years ago their daughter married a Muslim Palestinian, which causes some stress on both families, but less upon the Palestinian side on account of her conversion to Islam.

Well, everyone had to deal with the situation and to decide either to create a permanent rift and feud, or to release the love of Christ into the situation. The two families did come together in a respectful manner, and life then went on for the next seven years.

On the seventh anniversary, the daughter expressed privately that she was no longer a muslim. Seven years after that (her 14th anniversary), she confessed to her husband that she was a Christian. His love for her carried them through this crisis.

Some background: The Palestinian patriarch of the muslim family in question was born in Jerusalem. In 1967, in the wake of the Six Day War, when the Israelis took the city, Ali was thrown out of his home. They gave him 15 minutes to leave his home and then burned whatever he did not take with him. Ali tutored the children of Princes in Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Dubai, etc. and finally moved to Brazil. He was, of course, concerned when his son, "J"  married this Christian girl, who had converted in order to marry him. As I said, she did not remain a muslim.

Last June (2012) her mother, our friend, dreamed that the spirit of J's father, Ali, was on his knees telling her spirit that he had accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Her spirit's response to him was, "Now you will want to confess Him publicly" (as per Romans 10:10). When she related the dream to me last June, it was clear that God was working within that family. (This was just a few months after her daughter had made her reconversion to Christ public.) The mother then had the insight that Jesus was going to manifest Himself to them shortly in a very real way.

Then last October (2012) the mom, our friend, went to the store that her daughter's family owns, and was susprised to see "Jesus" in the store. Jesus turned out to be an engineering student at the University of Minnesota who has the physical appearance of how we might picture Jesus. She then went into the store and talked to "Jesus," whose presence seemed to brighten the whole store. "Jesus," however, was innocent in all of this, not realizing the impact of his presence. Yet it was a sign of Jesus coming to the family of "J" and his father, Ali.

Finally, this past Saturday, January 5, 2013, mother was led to ask her daughter and "J" how Ali was doing. They told her that he was in the hospital with double pneumonia and a blood clot in his lung. It seemed odd that she would ask about him at such a critical point in his life. She was then led to go to the hospital to visit Ali. Going to his room, she says, "I told him how we all loved God, and that I had come by direction of God, that I knew he believed in Jesus because of a dream, and that he now needed to make a public confession. He instantly knew why we had come. As we spoke and prayed, Ali began confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and praising Him."

As they praised God, the Holy Spirit spoke things like Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men." Forgiveness of sin was declared, along with a declaration that he had been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God's Beloved Son and Light. He kept saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Halelujah, and then drifted peacefully off to sleep.

Her final comment: "The whole family is receiving healing, and now the Patriarch of the family has opened the way for the nation and land of Palestine. Victory in Christ! Father's dream come true."

The next day Palestine became the State of Palestine. Is there a connection? Is this evidence of a rebirth? Is God interested in Palestinians, or does He just want them to move out and leave the land for Jews? I think that the timing of these events provide revelation that God is soon going to move among the Palestinian people, showing that Jesus loves them too. They have been neglected and beaten down--even by many in the church--for generations. Many Christians have been influenced by the media and by Jewish political interests which have marginalized them, dehumanized them, and refer to them all as "militants" rather than to refugees from Israeli militants.

If Jesus were walking the streets today, He would do as He always did--side with the downtrodden, love the hated, respect the despised, and admonish the religious ones to love their neighbors. Christ's character has not changed.