Abraham...A Historical Novel

I recommend this historical novel by my Messianic Jewish friend; Imre Weinstein.

Baptising Mahmoud from Palestine

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Romans 1: 16

Last Sunday we baptized a Palestinian young man...He came from where Jesus walked the earth...and wants to follow the Messiah...the Christ.

Pray for Pastor Youssef

صلوا من أجل يوسف في انتظار حكم الإعدام في إيران


This Prayer Chain is calling ALL Christians into action NOW on behalf of this Iranian pastor Youcef,
who faces execution!



حلقة الصلاة هذه تدعو جميع المسيحيين للعمل الآن من أجل هذا الراعي الإيراني الذي يواجه عقوبة الإعدام! فلم يكن الراعي يوسف أبداً مُمارساً للإيمان الإسلامي وتحول إلى المسيحية في عمر 19 سنة ثم أصبح راعياً. ولكن أصدرت المحكمة حكمها أنه بما أن الأبوين مسلمين فلابد عليه أن يترك إيمانه المسيحي وإلا الموت. وهو قد رفض إلى الآن فعل هذا أمام ساحة القضاء – ومُعرض ل تنفيذ حكم الإعدام فيه في أي لحظة. وكثيراً ما تتصرف المحكمة العليا الإيرانية بسرعة في تنفيذ عقوبة الإعدام. ووفقاً للتقارير، عندما طلب منه القُضاة "التوبة". أجاب يوسف: "التوبة، إلى ماذا أعود بتوبة؟ أإلى التجديف الذي كنت عليه قبل إيماني بالمسيح؟

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani never practiced the Muslim faith and converted to Christianity at age 19, becoming a pastor later. But the courts say that since his mother and father were practicing Muslims, he must recant his Christian faith or die. So far, in three court appearances, he has refused to do so - RISKING EXECUTION AT ANY MOMENT. The Iranian Supreme Court often acts quickly in administering the death penalty.

فأجاب القضاة: "إلى دين آبائك وأجدادك – الإسلام." فأجابهم يوسف قائلاً: " لا أستطيع."
إنه وقت لجسد المسيح أن يقوم للعمل والصلاة والتضرع من أجل الحياة لأخينا باسم يسوع وحتى يُنقذ عبده.
هذا ما نطلبه منك. وبمجرد وصول هذه الرسالة لك صلٍ في الحال. وارسلها إلى كنيستك حتى يُصلوا هم أيضاً وإلى كل مسيحي تعرفه لكي يُصلي هو أيضاً.
According to a report, when asked by judges to "repent,"Youcef replied: "Repent, What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?"
The judges replied: "To the religion of your ancestors - Islam." To which Yousef replied: "I cannot."
It's time for the body of Christ to act, to pray, to plead for the life of our Brother before Christ so that His servant may be spared.
يقول الكتاب: "إن كان الله معنا فمن علينا."
عبرانيين 2:13 "لاَ تَنْسَوْا إِضَافَةَ الْغُرَبَاءِ، لأَنْ بِهَا أَضَافَ أُنَاسٌ مَلاَئِكَةً وَهُمْ لاَ يَدْرُونَ."


This is what you are asked/called to do. As soon as you receive this email,
PRAY IMMEDIATELY.

Forward to your Church so that they may all pray too. Then forward this PRAYER REQUEST to every CHRISTIAN you know so that they may pray also.

The Bible States , "If God is with us, who can stand against us."

With God All Things Are Possible

From a Muslim Extremist to a Follower of Christ

An Invitation from Spiritual Life - Ministry 2 World

Rev. Hicham Chehab will share his life story in a powerpoint presentation and answer any question on Monday Feb. 13 at 7:00 pm

at Concordia Chicago, Koehneke Community Center, River Forest Room.

7400 Augusta St
River Forest IL ,

All Are Welcome

Salam on Mosaic Dupage

Pastor Hesham Shehab, originally from Lebanon, is the pastor of Salam Christian Fellowship which meets at Peace Lutheran Church in Lombard, IL Saturdays at noon.

Hesham tells how he began his ministry to Muslims in Chicagoland: “Just around Easter 2007, I bumped into a woman from Palestine in the streets of Wheaton who [had] lived most of her life in Lebanon. She was like the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well who connected Jesus with her whole town. She introduced me to the Arab neighborhood of Chicago.” Two months later he started an Arabic Bible study in a Wheaton apartment. That summer he witnessed seven baptisms of people from Iraq and Iran and then that fall started Salam Christian Fellowship.

Salam Arabic Church is now a broad evangelistic ministry to Middle Eastern immigrants in the greater Chicagoland area. Attendees experience a unique Arabic seeker-friendly church that preaches Christ crucified and contextualizes the Gospel of Jesus to those from an Islamic culture.

To learn more about Hesham’s own testimony see this video clip here:http://youtu.be/O225ekmvvLs

For more information on Pastor Hesham’s ministry see: http://clmma.org/

Cristian Life, Rethinking Ministry to the Poor

"When our culture traded front-porch neighborhood life for private backyards patios, when we succumbed to the seduction of individualism and lost touch with our next door neighbors, a void was created in the spirit of our people that chat rooms cannot fill. The commuting church with its scattered members buzzing in and out of the neighborhood, is one more troubling reminder of what we have lost. A community starved society, by its protests, is calling the Church back to its historic mandate: to be the exemplar within the community of both love of god and love of neighbor." - Paul Lupton

Michigan Federal Judge Denies Dearborn’s Request to Dismiss Our Civil Rights Case

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012
Michigan Federal Judge Denies Dearborn’s Request to Dismiss Our Civil Rights Case
Dearborn police threw us in jail for having a peaceful discussion with Muslims at a public festival. They also took us into custody two days later for attempting to distribute copies of the Gospel of John outside the festival. The police seized our cameras for nearly a month and filed false police reports, while the mayor waged a smear-campaign against us. The city of Dearborn then had the nerve to try to have our civil case thrown out of court, arguing that police had "probable cause" to arrest us! Fortunately, our lawyers do not know the meaning of "sleep," and the judge saw through the city's attempt.

MICHIGAN--A U.S. District Court Judge in Detroit, Michigan denied the City of Dearborn’s request to dismiss the civil rights claims brought by several Christian missionaries arising out of their arrests by City police officers in 2010. The Christians were arrested by City police officers while preaching to Muslims at the City’s Arab Festival. The Christians spent the night in jail and were then charged and tried for “breaching the peace.” American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) Senior Counsel Robert J. Muise won acquittals from a jury for all the Christian defendants at the conclusion of the criminal trial.

Following the acquittals, Muise, along with AFLC Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi, filed a 96-page civil rights lawsuit against the City, its mayor, John B. O’Reilly, its chief of police, Ronald Haddad, 17 City police officers, and two executives from the American Arab Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Acts 17 Apologetics, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla, and Josh Hogg—the Christians whose rights were violated by the City officials. [Read more about this lawsuit and watch the stunning videos of the arrests of the Christians here].

Muise commented, “The judge’s ruling today is a huge victory for these Christians. It allows the civil rights claims for the most egregious constitutional violations to proceed against the City and its officials. AFLC is committed to ensuring that our Constitution and not sharia law, which makes it a crime to preach the Gospel to Muslims, is the supreme law in this country.”

In their motion, the City had argued that the state court judge’s finding in the criminal proceeding that the police officers had probable cause to arrest the Christians based on a complaint from festival worker Roger Williams effectively immunized the City of Dearborn and the individual defendants from civil suit. Muise and Yerushalmi, on behalf of the Christians, countered by arguing that the ruling does not preclude the civil rights claims because it was based upon fabricated allegations and besides, the Christians did not have a full and fair opportunity to challenge the claims in the police reports prior to the ruling. The federal judge agreed with the AFLC attorneys.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen J. Murphy, III, stated, “It is a reasonable inference from their allegations that [City officials] knew Williams’ complaint was pretextual.” The federal judge noted that “[t]he indirect evidence of this conspiracy that was developed in state court and is already a part of the record in this case—including the videos and the testimony given by [City police officers] at their trial—elevates [the Christians’] accusations above the threshold of plausibility. . . .” The federal judge also stated, “The [state] district judge appears to have presumed the police reports submitted were truthful, and staked his probable cause determination on that presumption. Plaintiffs had no opportunity to either cross-examine the officers or take the stand themselves to contest the reports.” The judge concluded, “Finally, the district court was inattentive to the effect Plaintiffs’ claims of First Amendment protection might have on the probable cause determination. . . . The Sixth Circuit has warned on previous occasions that Michigan’s ‘breach of peace’ statute is prone to such abuse.”

Yerushalmi concluded, “This case is a stunning example of the pernicious influence of stealth jihad and sharia law in America. The City of Dearborn is now a serial violator of Christians’ constitutional rights and has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and costs defending its insidious conduct. Apparently, in Dearborn, where sharia and jihad are advocated openly, it is a crime to preach the Christian Gospel. AFLC is committed to stopping this attack on our Constitution. And the ruling today allows us to do just that.”

The American Freedom Law Center is a Judeo-Christian law firm that fights for faith and freedom. It accomplishes its mission through litigation, public policy initiatives, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. Visit us at www.americanfreedomlawcenter.org.

Former Muslim Extremist now Lutheran Minister to Speak in Mesquite

Former Muslim Extremist now Lutheran Minister to Speak in Mesquite

“This is a real story of redemption,” said Pastor George Mather of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Mesquite. “From Muslim to Lutheran, sniper to minister, this is an amazing story.”

Pastor Mather was referring to a visiting minister who will be speaking at his church on March 4.

Hicham Chehab grew up in a world of bitter animosity between Muslims and Christians and by age 13, he was recruited into a Muslim extremist group, some say the Muslim Brotherhood, in his home country of Lebanon. Lebanon was divided along sectarian lines, Christians and Muslims.

The situation was aggravated by the presence of Palestinian refugees and The P.L.O., the Palestine Liberation Organization. Chehab completed training at military training camps and took part in the civil war when it broke out in 1975.

“I participated in most aspects of the war, from shelling Christian neighborhoods to setting up ambushes for the Christian militias. I found I could not shoot people just because they weren't like us. No cause was worth the bloodshed, so I decided to focus on Muslim religious studies instead,” said Chehab.

In 1980, when he started his studies, his only brother was killed by the Christian militia. He became a sniper at night and a student during the day but one day during a class in cultural studies, he began to read the Bible. He read the Sermon on the Mount about “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and found a turning point in his life. He began to work for peace and reconciliation.

Over the next several years, he worked as an activist and a peacemaker while continuing his study of the Christian religion. He earned a Master of Arts in the history of Arabs and did Ph.D studies in the history of Islam. He was baptized as a Lutheran in 2000.

In 2004, Chehab and his family moved from Lebanon to the United States. He began his religious studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Indiana and started an Arabic Bible study group. In 2009, he was ordained a Lutheran minister and began as a mission pastor to Middle East communities in Chicago.

“This is part of our church’s ministry program to encourage and celebrate our faith,” said Pastor Mather. “We try to present a variety of important information to our congregation and speakers help us interpret our contemporary world through a Lutheran Christian perspective.”

Pastor Chehab currently holds services at Salam Arabic Church in Lombard, Illinois, and has a community center for outreach to people of the Middle East. Worship and Bible studies are conducted both in Arabic and Farsi and most of the congregation are from the Middle East or from Africa. Launched in 2008, his church is the first Arabic Lutheran mission group in Illinois.

“Some people may feel uncomfortable about Pastor Chebab because of his background but we feel those are the people who should come to hear him speak. Then he can be judged on what he says and what he believes not on how he looks,” said Pastor Mather. “Religion is about forgiveness.”

Pastor Chehab will be the guest speaker for the Prince of Peace Church on March 4 at 3pm at a location in Mesquite yet to be determined. The organizers want to make sure the venue will be large enough to accommodate anyone who wishes to attend. The location will be advertised the week before the event. The event is free and all donations made by check are fully tax deductible. For further information, please call the Prince of Peace Church at 345-2160.