War Against Die Die Prayers
You must have severally heard of Muslims who aftermath became Christians. Well, Mosab Hassan Yousef is one of such.
Hassan grew up as a Muslim. From an early age, he studied the Quran, memorized its teachings, said the daily prayers, and followed the way of Islam as faithfully as he could. In that respect, he was like many other young men growing up in Palestinian towns, with one important exception. His father was one of the founders of Hamas, the militant terrorist organization.
"What! How then did he become a christian?"
Booom! I will tell you.
You wouldn’t think he would be a likely candidate for conversion, but the ways of God are beyond human explanation. In his book "Son of Hamas" (you can search for the book on google), Hassan tells how he met a man who gave him a New Testament Bible. Because of his interest in religious matters, he decided to read it to see for himself what it said. Naturally he started with Matthew. Soon he encountered the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). There he got his first unfiltered exposure to the pure teachings of Jesus. It blew him away!
Today (on the day this was written), I watched one of the interviews American Family Radio conducted with Hassan on YouTube. He said the same story he writes in the book. He couldn’t get away from the revolutionary nature of Jesus’ teaching. One particular point stayed in his mind. Matthew 5:43-45 says,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
“I was thunderstruck!” he said.
This was the message he had been looking for. Soon he became a Christian.
Three words so captured his heart, he simply couldn’t get away from them.
Love your enemies – don’t hate them.
Love your enemies – don’t despise them.
Love your enemies – don’t kill them.
During the interview, he said, “All the other religions say, ‘Love your friends’ or ‘Love your neighbor,’ but only Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies.’” You see that?
If Hassan had encountered one or two prayer sessions conducted by "die die" fans, I bet he wouldn't have given his life to Jesus! Why? Because that would have been a direct opposite of what he read in the Bible!
Okay, let's look at another story.
Recently, a man named Yusuf Saheed, came across a Christian missionary. He was preached to, and he was at the point of considering the place of Jesus in his life. The message was so convincing. The missionary heavily poured out the word of God to him, and I bet, he certainly would have believed if what I'm about to tell you never happened!
While preaching to Yusuf, a prayer session was going on in a nearby church. And gbaaam, this 'die die' prayer started again! Yusuf heard this and wondered why
CHRISTIANS could be so heinous, praying for the death of PEOPLE, not ANIMALS!
He said to the missionary preaching to him:
"Didn't you just tell me Jesus said enemies should be loved? How come your fellow Christians pray for the death of others?"
End of story! This happened in Kano!
Few days ago, I came across a video, and noticing the scenery, I discovered it was Yusuf Saheed. He narrated his story of how a missionary preached to him, and what happened next. What he said shocked me:
"I love their Christ, but I hate their Christians!"
The world says, “Get angry.”
God says, “Pray for them.”
The world says, “Don't waste time loving bad people.”
God says, “Love them anyway.”
We need to pray for our enemies, and they need our prayers.
If we don't pray for our enemies, who will?
If we don't pray for our enemies, how will they ever change?
If we don't pray for our enemies, how will we ever be free from bitterness?
Bhet wait, who do you THINK your ENEMY is?
Your only enemy is SATAN! Not that brother, not your mother-in-law, not that friend who slandered you, not that boss who fired you!
Remain blessed!
# Olatunji
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