A team of Israeli Messianic Jews and
Arab Christians have been assisting Syrian war refugees. The group recently visited a church where 219-refugees’
families (over 700-people) were taking shelter after fleeing from Islamic State
(ISIS) and other Islamist groups. “These
people lost everything,” says one member of the Israeli group, whose names need
to be protected. “They even saw family
members murdered or kidnapped.”
The Arab and Jewish team are working
together with local Christians who are doing what they can to care for the
needs of the multitudes of children who have been devastated by the war. The team brought a large financial gift from
the Body of Christ in Israel, Jews, and Arabs who wanted to reach out to the
Syrians in a practical way. “We brought
milk for children, diapers, jackets, warm clothes, toys and candy; we purchased
heaters and blankets, small cooking stoves and cooking pans. What a joy to see the faces of the young ones
that walked around barefoot, having lost everything, receiving new sandals,”
the team member recalls.
In addition to the practical
humanitarian needs, they are also supporting educational opportunities for the
multitudes of displaced children, including Bible teachings. “We do not want to pass the pain to our
children,” said a local Arab Christian working with the refugees.
Many of the refugees the team has
helped are educated people with good professions who lost everything. They told us about Mohammed (not his real
name), a successful businessman originally from the Syrian side of the Golan
Heights. The Israeli team recounted
Mohammed’s own story, which is representative of thousands of Syrian refugees,
thus:
“Due to the war, he had to relocate several times during the
past 3-years, but eventually had to run for his life with his family to Jordan.
While attending a funeral of one of the
young men from his village with 3,000-people, a missile hit the crowd and
Mohammed found himself lying over the dead bodies of 403-people – 15 of them
members of his extended family.
Mohammed, his 4-daughters and 3-sons, a daughter-in-law and
several grandsons then walked the cold desert to cross into Jordan … all while
facing death threats. [During the
journey], some of their number were killed by wild animals. A pregnant woman had to deliver her baby in
the freezing cold desert. They burned
their jackets to make a fire to keep the new born baby warm. Hope was waning.
Desperately, Mohammed
left his family alone in the dark, cold desert and walked for 5-hours until he
reached a Jordanian army border post, which provided assistance bringing his
family into the country.”
A month later, the team visited the family and brought them
jackets to replace those they had burned. They shared the Gospel with them and prayed
for the family.
The team also visited a church that
was filled with refugees, reporting:
“They slept in the pews, offices and every available place. The church has rented a wedding hall for the
people to live in. What dedicated people
that understand what is happening is an opportunity rather than a curse! We were able to help with medications for a
medical team that travels and takes care of refugees in different places.”
At one point, several refugees
became angry when a team member identified as a Messianic Jew began to speak to
them. “But then I saw many people
getting touched and crying,” said the Messianic believer. “Many of the people came and said, ‘When you
first started to share, we wanted to kill you, but now we know that Jesus is
real and want to accept Him has our Lord.’”
“I've never seen a church full of
Muslim women wearing the hijab,” said the Israeli team leader. “We could see the joy in the eyes of
frightened children as we ministered to them. We saw hunger for the truth as people started
to question Islam.”
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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