Religious Freedom in Iraq
by Joel
C. Rosenberg
(WASHINGTON, D.C., May 23, 2006) -- Unprecedented religious freedom has
finally come to Iraq because of U.S. military action there, and more
Iraqi Muslims are becoming followers of Jesus Christ today than at any
other time in the history of the country.
That was the message delivered by retired Iraqi General Georges Sada
last night at a private dinner just outside of Washington, D.C., and
then at McLean Bible Church in northern Virginia where Sada spoke to
more than 1,000 people.
Sada and I first met by phone in March when I interviewed him for
EPICENTER, the non-fiction book I'm writing about the future of the
Middle East. Intrigued by his remarkable personal story, I invited him
to come Washington to share his experiences and perspective with our
congregation. It was an extraordinary evening.
Sada described in detail how Saddam moved stockpiles of weapons of mass
destruction to Syria in the summer of 2002, a story that is now being
closely analyzed by the CIA, DIA and Congressional intelligence
committees. He received an emotional ovation when he described how he
refused to execute U.S. and British prisoners of war in 1991, despite
direct orders by Qusay Hussein, Saddam's son. That move led to his
dismissal from the military in February 1991, though -- thank God --
not to his own execution.
Just as moving where the stories Sada shared about what God is doing in
Iraq today. Such stories are rarely told in the American press, though
the Washington Times, to their credit, covered Sada's visit, and ran an
excellent front-page story this morning. [See below]
The Kurds in the north of Iraq, for example, are especially receptive
to the gospel message and are converting to Christianity "by the
hundreds," Sada reported. One evangelical church recently started in
Kurdistan now has more than 800 people worshipping there every week,
most of whom are new converts from Islam. Sada told me that some 5,000
Iraqis have publicly identified themselves as new followers of Christ
since Iraq was liberated, and that an estimated eight out ten Iraqi
believers say they converted because Jesus appeared to them in dreams
or visions.
In a new and very positive development, Nechirvan Barzani, the prime
minister of Kurdistan Regional Government in Irbil, has vowed to
protect the ancient Assyrian Christian community there as well as new
believers from persecution and violence. Sada and Dr. Terry Law,
president of World Compassion, a Christian relief organization based in
Oklahoma, met with Barzani last week. "I would rather see a Muslim
become a Christian than a radical Muslim," Barzani told them, an
absolutely remarkable statement by a Muslim leader in a land wracked by
sectarian violence,
One of the things I found most inspiring was when Sada said that Saddam
Hussein's throne room in his main palace in Baghdad had been turned
into an evangelical church after the war. Once Saddam used that room to
order thousands of people to be executed, but now the name of Jesus
Christ -- the King of kings and the Lord of lords -- is praised there
instead. Sada also said tens of thousands of Bibles were being printed
in Iraq. Thousands more are being shipped into Iraq, and Christian
programming is now available to Iraqis on satellite television.
Sada, a former air force fighter pilot who once served as a senior
military advisor to Saddam Hussein, became the chief spokesman for
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi during the interim government, just
after the war. Now he serves as a senior national security advisor to
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and has been helping redesign the new
Iraqi military, along with his efforts to strengthen the Christian
church in Iraq. His recent best-selling book, Saddam's Secrets: How an
Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein, is an absolutely
fascinating description of how Sada became a follower of Christ, rose
through the ranks of the Iraqi Air Force, ended up working so closely
with Saddam, and now works for peace and reconciliation in the name of
Jesus.
Sada concluded the evening with a heart-felt message of thanks to the
American people for liberating his country and said all peace-loving
people should "kneel down and thank the [American] mothers and fathers
who have sacrificed their sons and daughters for the sake of freedom in
Iraq." He asked for patience as Iraq's fledgling democracy builds a
foundation and finds its way. But he also said there is far more good
news in Iraq today than is being reported by the national news media.
Why is he taking such risks to share the good news? I asked him. "There
is an Arab proverb which says, 'Don't be a mute Satan,'" he told me.
"If you know the truth, you have an obligation to tell everyone."
"A word from your mouth speaks
volumes about your heart"
Joel
C. Rosenberg is the New York Times best-selling author of THE LAST
JIHAD (2002), THE LAST DAYS (2003), and THE EZEKIEL OPTION (2005), with
more than one million copies in print. He previously served as a senior
advisor to several U.S. and Israeli leaders, including Steve Forbes,
Rush Limbaugh, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky,
and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has been
interviewed on more than 300 radio and TV shows, including ABC's
"Nightline," CBN's 700 Club, CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel,
MSNBC, the Michael Reagan Show, the Rush Limbaugh Show and the Sean
Hannity Show. |
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