Mosab Hassan Yousef’s life was a disaster. As a son of one of the 3 original founders of Hamas, he was raised in a home that hated Israel and blamed Israel for all of their woes. He fought Israeli tanks, recruited others to Hamas, and ended up in an Israeli prison. According to Fox News:
Yousef said he was indoctrinated at an early age to use violence to challenge Israeli control in the region. As a teenager he moved up within the organization and became the leader of the radical Islamic Youth Movement that fought Israeli tanks and troops in the streets, celebrated suicide bombings and recruited young men to the cause.
Yousef, 30, said he realized the true nature of Hamas and radical Islam during a stint in an Israeli prison. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and converted to Christianity.
“Islam is not the word of God,” said Yousef. “If you want to be offended it’s your problem. But you know something? Go study. Think for a second that I might be right. So wake up, look at your path, see where you’re going. Are you really going to heaven with 72 virgins after you kill yourself and kill another 20 people?”
Yousef has sought asylum in the United States and now attends an evangelical Christian church in San Diego, Calif.
“The Hamas leadership, including my father, they’re responsible; they’re responsible for all the violence that happened from the organization. I know they describe it as reaction to Israeli aggression, but still, they are part of it and they had to make decisions in those operations against Israel (for) which there was the killing of many civilians.”
That’s why we need to respond with love to others. While I certainly support Israel’s decision to go to war and hope that Hamas is destroyed, it will be all for nothing if the Gazans do not learn to love.
Show love
And how will they learn to love? By Christians showing them love. You don’t have to get in their face and tell them the 4 Spirtual Laws. Feed them. Talk to them. Do them favors. Get to know their families. Respect them. Don’t hide the fact that you’re a Christian but don’t shove it down their throats. Don’t pretend to love them in order to convert them — that’s deception and God does not respect deception. Truly love them and meet them where they are.
It has been my experience that, after you demonstrate true love for people, God will eventually prompt their hearts to ask about Jesus. That’s when you tell them the Good News.
There are millions in the Muslim world who have come to know Christ. They have to practice their beliefs in secret as the early Christians did, but they seek out other believers and devour anything Christian that they can get their hands on. Give to ministries who are able to preach the Gospel in Islamic lands.
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