CHAPTER 10
At last, Ahmad slowly pivoted to face her. “What—what does God want me to do?” he finally asked. “Besides releasing the prisoners?”
Monica laid a hand on his shoulder. The smell of stinky sweat reached her nostrils. “He wants you to give your life over to His Son—the One who died for you 2,000 years ago. He will set you free. He will forgive you of your wrongs against Him and against other people. He will give you His peace, His joy, and His love for other people, and no circumstance will be able to destroy that peace. And when He returns in just three-and-a-half years, to set up His Kingdom, you will live in fellowship with Him forever—first on a restored earth, then on a new earth.”
Ahmad bit his lower lip. “And how do I do that?”
“Pray.” Monica’s voice turned urgent. “Pray to Him now. Ask Him to come into your heart. Ask Him to forgive you. He is listening, Ahmad, and He will do the rest.” She dropped her hand to her side, then clasped both hands in front of her waist.
Sagging his shoulders, Ahmad lowered his head. “I don’t know You, Jesus,” he admitted. “All I know of You is what my imam and my Koran have told you. They said that You were a prophet, but not the Son of God.” He paused, to glance up at Monica, then lowered his head again. “This angel has told me that You really are God’s Son, and that You’re listening.”
He leaned against the corrugated tin wall, taking a deep breath. He folded his arms across his chest. “Well, I am here, and if You want me, well, I want to be Yours. I ask You to come into me, and to forgive me. To make me Yours.” He swallowed hard. “Amen.”
Straightening his back, he looked at Monica, who beamed. “He has heard you, Ahmad, and the angels are rejoicing over you now!” A radiant smile slowly spread over the guard’s face.
A pocket-sized Bible appeared in Monica’s hand; she handed it to Ahmad. “God wants you to have this, and to study it. It is His Holy Word. As you have studied the writings of Islam, now He wants you to study His holy writings. They are contained in this book.”
Ahmad ran his fingers over its soft black leather cover. “I am a dead man if I’m caught with this,” he said slowly.
Monica squeezed his shoulder. “As I said earlier, Ahmad, these are dangerous times. And they will be especially dangerous for believers who come to faith in Jesus, because the world system hates Him. Many will die for Him rather than deny Him."
She paused. "You may well be called on to make that sacrifice—not by strapping explosives to your body to murder others, as the suicide bombers used to do, but by accepting death to stand true for the Lord.” Her voice turned gentle. “If that happens to you, God wants you to know that He has a great reward for you in Heaven. Not 70 virgins, as your imam taught you, but a reward so much greater and better than you could ever imagine.”
Nodding, Ahmad glanced down at his new Bible, running his index finger over its soft leather cover. When he raised his head again, Monica had disappeared.
“Jesus,” he whispered, “I’m not used to praying to You, and I’m still not 100% sure that You are really who Monica says You are. I need to be convinced.” He bit his lower lip as he tried to think of something that would give proof. “Jesus, if You really are God, and if You really do love me as Monica said, please protect my Bible. They will kill me and take it from me if I’m caught with it.”
With a sigh, he slipped the Bible into his jeans pocket and returned to Theodor and Rafael’s cell. All he could do, now, was to wait and see what happened. Pulling his jangling keys out of his other pocket, he inserted them into the lock. The door creaked open.
For a long moment, he just gazed down at the two prisoners, now perched on the narrow, lumpy cot. A fly buzzed on the tin wall across the cell. “You are free to go,” he told them. “I will lead you to a side door where you will not so easily be seen.”
Rafael rose to his feet and faced the guard. “God is proud of you, Ahmad. He wants you to know that.” The same unearthly light that had poured off Monica now poured off him. Ahmad gaped at him in shock.
Rafael chucked. “Yes, I’m an angel, too. Just as God sent Monica to speak with you, He sent me to be with Theodor, here.” The Hispanic angel smiled at the young soldier as he stood up and shifted his weight from one foot to the other; a broad answering smile spread across Theodor’s face.
Rafael turned back to the stunned guard. “Ahmad, God wants you to know that He has heard your prayers, and He is going to protect your Bible. No one will take it from you, because He will hide it from all hostile eyes. You may have to sacrifice your life later for the decision you have made today, but your Bible will be safe in your keeping either for as long as you live or until Jesus returns. God loves you, and He is so happy that you have chosen to receive Him.”
Ahmad shook his head. “How could you have heard me?” he asked the angel. “I talked with Monica and whispered that prayer in another part of the prison camp.”
Rafael chuckled. He folded his arms across his chest. “Ahmad, God hears whispers as plainly as He hears shouts, and He has revealed to me what went on between you and Monica.”
Ahmad’s voice trembled as he spoke. “Thank you,” he said. Looking up at the ceiling, he added, “Jesus, You are indeed the Son of God—I see that now. Thank You!” A radiant smile spread across his face.
Theodor’s eyes shone as he approached and hugged the Iranian guard. “Now I know why God allowed me to be drafted and captured,” he said. “So that you, Ahmad, would have the chance to come to know Him. Until this moment, you were my enemy—now, you are my brother in the Lord!” Nodding agreement, Ahmad hugged him back.
Rafael put his arm on Theodor’s shoulder as the others turned to face him. “Never again doubt, Theodor, that God has a purpose in whatever happens,” he told the young Israeli soldier. “Even while you’re a soldier, you are still an evangelist, and He will use you wherever you are. In whatever circumstances you face.” Theodor nodded. “And don’t worry about your father. He will see the light before it’s over.”
The guard raised his fingers for silence, then gestured toward the two. “Come with me; I will take you out.” The three tiptoed out the cell door, one by one, their boots making soft thuds on the floor.
END OF CHAPTER 10