Samer Mohammed’s
family were Palestinian refugees who lived in Lebanon. His father worked for
Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat. “When I was seven years old, I saw a lot of
guns in my house, later I came to know that my father worked for Yaser Arafat.
He would take youth from our Palestinian camp in Lebanon to Israel, kill Jews
and come back. Even today five of my brothers work for a Palestinian group,”
Samer says. As a religious Muslim, Samer went to the mosque five times a day,
and also trained to become an Imam by going to a Wahabi school to study Sharia
Law. “I was in charge of Mosque at our camp. I used to give the ‘Aza’ which is
a call for namaz,” he says. Samer says his life changed when a Christian gave
him a Bible at his camp. Although he was furious at first, after reading the
Bible, he went on to attend a Christian meeting and later on give his life to Jesus. When he began reading the Bible initially,
the Imam at his Wahabi school confiscated it, and warned him not to associate
with Christians. “One day, while I was on my way to the mosque, I said “Lord,
where is the truth?” My eyes were opened and in July 2001 I accepted Jesus as
my personal saviour. Because of his faith in Jesus, Samer had to cut ties with
his family. He couldn’t attend his mother’s funeral as his brothers planned to
kill him. “God has taken away my hate, and blessed me with peace,” Samer says.