Anti-Semitism

The Answer to
Anti-Semitism
e
The Ex-terrorist Who Now Loves the Jewish People
The true story of Zachariah Anani
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Excerpt from Arutz Sheva: “I was brought up to hate Jews and Israel. That was my first raising, my first attitude.” Zachariah Anani
told Israel National Radio’s Tovia Singer. “Thank G-d, I spent
most of my short militant life fighting against my own kind. Fate
never put me against the Israeli army.” Anani added. www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/93666 (25/11/05)
Zachariah Anani was born into a family of Muslim clergy in Beirut, Lebanon. He was expected to follow in the footsteps of his
Great grandfather, and Grandfather, who were Imams, (religious
authorities) and so was sent at age three to Islamic school. At age
13 he joined one of the many militia groups that existed in the
70’s funded by the Palestine Liberation Organization. His family was delighted because according to Islamic tradition those
who die on the battlefield against the infidel have a right to enter
heaven and their family is to be respected. He was trained to hate
Jews, Christians, and Americans and was taught how to fight and
kill, both with weapons and with his bare hands.
In his organization, if a killing was witnessed by two or more militia members a point was placed on his chart. Soon after enlisting he made his first kill, and by the time he was 17 there were
223 points on his chart. Anani described two types of effects
this environment had on young
Muslims. Either they became
He was trained to
insanely fanatical about Islam
hate Jews,
or they became cold and dead
on the inside. The latter was
Christians, and
Anani’s reaction. By the time
Americans
he was 16 he had seen so much
killing and violence that life literally meant nothing to him and
even his comrades feared him.
Anani himself fully expected to
be dead before he turned 20.
Alone and bored, one day he
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came across a missionary preach“Jesus the
ing on a street corner. Realizing
he was a Christian, Anani quickly Messiah will give
turned to walk away only to be
you new life”
stopped in his tracks by the missionary’s statement: “Jesus the
Messiah will give you new life,
hope, and salvation.” Waiting
until the missionary was finished,
Anani approached him. “Do you
really believe what you said?” he
asked. After a brief discussion, the
missionary pushed his card into
Anani’s hand and said, “Call whenever you want.” Unable to sleep
that night, he kept replaying the missionary’s words in his mind:
“Jesus Christ will give you new life, hope, and salvation.” The next
day he called the missionary and met with him. He wept when
he heard that Jesus Christ had died on the cross paying for his
(Anani’s) sins. He opened a Bible for the first time in his life and
read Jesus’ words: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). That
afternoon Anani gave his life to Jesus Christ. Anani says, “That
started a change in my life.”
Anani’s first reaction was to share the joy of his new life in Jesus
the Messiah with his family. “I went and told my parents and everybody the next day. I didn’t hide my faith.” His family immediately responded. His father tore apart Anani’s Bible and slapped
him. His mother warned all the neighbors to keep their children
away from him. As the word of his conversion spread, Muslim
leaders in Beirut ordered him on trial for apostasy. He was interrogated by an Imam who asked him intelligent questions. Anani
felt the inadequacy of his answers, but he knew that God had
given him a new spirit, a new heart, and Jesus had become his
Lord and Saviour. After he was beaten unconscious and excommunicated, he was given three days to recant and come back to
the mosque as a Muslim or anybody had the right to kill him.
Three days later Anani still had not abandoned his faith in Jesus,
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so his own father hired three Kurdish assassins to kill him. In the
ensuing years, there have been 18 attempts on his life.
Gone are Anani’s hatred and emptiness. It is replaced with
love for all people, including Jews. Since he left Lebanon in
1996, not only does Anani boldly share the love of Jesus the Messiah to everyone, but he also speaks publicly exposing the lies
of Islam concerning Israel and Jews. The former Beirut militia
fighter continues to marvel at the changes God brought forth in
his life.
What actually produced the dramatic change in his life? To bornagain believers in Jesus the Messiah, Anani’s transformation,
while dramatic, is not at all unusual. There are literally millions
around the world today who have experienced this transformation that Jesus called being “born again”. Our congregations are
replete with similar stories going all the way back to the time
that Jesus the Messiah was on earth.
To really understand what happened to Zachariah Anani we need
to go back to the prophets who promised the coming of the Messiah. God said He would raise up a special Prophet like Moses. Jesus performed miracles and established a covenant
with God’s people as Moses did (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). Isaiah said He would be born of a
virgin (Isaiah 7:14). Micah told
“Come unto me, all us that He would come from
Bethlehem, would be eternal,
ye that labour and
and become the ruler (Micah
are heavy laden,
5:2). Isaiah said He would heal
and I will give you
the sick, the lame, the deaf, and
the dumb. Isaiah also said that
rest”
in spite of these miracles He
would be rejected of His people
and killed, but it would be in His
death that He would accomplish
His mission to mankind. He being innocent would die in the
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place of us sinners. He would
literally bear the punishment
appointed unto us so we could
be forgiven and allowed into
Heaven freely. Isaiah spoke of
Messiah’s death saying, “He is
despised and rejected of men...
But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities…and the LORD
hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all” (Isaiah 53:3-6).
“The LORD hath
laid on Him the
iniquity of us all”
Why do we need someone to pay for our sins? Animal blood
sacrifice was a principle that was initiated after the fall in the
Garden of Eden and was later instituted as a ritual for atonement
of sin in the Law of Moses. “For on that day shall the priest make
an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from
all your sins before the LORD” (Leviticus 16:30). In the Law of
Moses it states, “…For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). Since the beginning of
time, the Patriarchs made blood sacrifices. The observance of
blood sacrifice during Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) was absolutely necessary for the people to receive atonement for sin. “...
Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).
All of this was a picture of GOD’S future plan to bring complete forgiveness of sin through the blood and sacrificial
death of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
However, David foretold that Messiah would not stay dead (Psalm
16:10). After his death, He was resurrected with over 500 witnesses attesting to this and ascended to the right hand of GOD.
Isaiah prophesied concerning this God child, “For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be
no end” (Isaiah 9:6-7). Daniel told us that all this would happen
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shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (Daniel
9:26). All these promises and many more were fulfilled in Jesus
the Messiah.
There are other promises in the Bible that speak about the nature of salvation this Savior would offer to all mankind, and these
describe exactly what happened to Zachariah Anani. “I will put a
new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their
flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh. That they may walk
in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19, 20).
His salvation would be complete. He would not only forgive the
sins of those who trusted in His Holy One, but He would take out
their cold, hard hearts that hated Him or were disinterested in
Him and replace them with hearts that loved Him and followed
Him. God promised that He would put a new spirit in those who
trusted in the Messiah, whether they be Jew or Gentile (Isaiah
42:6; Romans 10:11-13; Ezekiel 11:19). It is a point of fact that
this describes exactly what has happened to millions of people
around the world for two thousand years who have trusted Jesus
the Messiah as their Savior from sin. Think about it.
Anti-Semitism is in fact, rebellion against the God of Israel,
Whom is the God of the whole
earth. The solution to anti“Gone are
Semitism across the world will
Anani’s hatred
soon be realized when Messiah
Jesus returns and reigns over
and emptiness”
the entire world from Jerusalem. “In that day shall the
LORD defend...And it shall
come to pass in that day, that
I will seek to destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem…And they shall look
upon me whom they have
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pierced…” (Zechariah 12:8-10,
14:16). When did we pierce the
LORD? The ex-Muslim terrorist, Zachariah Anani, and millions of others, have found the
solution to anti-Semitism and
personal salvation by following
God’s command, which is, “Repentance toward God, and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Except ye
repent, ye shall
all likewise
perish”
Have you experienced the forgiveness of sins and newness of
life that Zachariah Anani and millions of others have? Have you
repented of sin and been born again? Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5) and “Except a
man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
God loves you and sacrificed His Son’s life in order to pay for all
of your sin, give you a clean heart, and offer you eternal life. “For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life” (John 3:16).
For those who reject His only solution for forgiveness of sin
and eternal life, He warns; “But the fearful, and unbelieving,
and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers,
and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone:
which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.” “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9, 13).
Why don’t you ask GOD now to forgive you of all your sin and for
the salvation and eternal life He offers you through Jesus Christ?
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“Thank G-d, I spent most of my short militant life
fighting against my own kind. Fate never put me
against the Israeli army.”
Zachariah Anani
Gone are Anani’s hatred and emptiness. It is replaced
with love for all people, including Jews.
“I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the
stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an
heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19, 20)
For more information:
Grace and Truth Baptist Congregation
Box 578 Kiryat Shmona 11015 Israel
[email protected]
www.tikvatyisrael.co.il
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