A Turkish Muslim who made a pilgrimage to Mecca in a desperate attempt to get his life back on track returned as a Christian to the great astonishment of his family. Now a pastor, Ali Pektash has been addressing a conference in Jerusalem called At the Crossroads and sees it as part of his mission to help re-unite the sons of Abraham.
Canon Andrew White, who leads a 6,500-strong congregation at St George’s in the heart of the war-torn city, spoke of how his people were happy despite much suffering – 1,276 of them have perished as victims of violence in the past ten years. But Iraq has a Christian heritage going back to ancient times, he explained, and was part of the ‘Isaiah 19 Highway’ which forms the vision of the At the Crossroads conference, meeting at Christ Church in Jerusalem’s Old City.
This week, Christ Church Jerusalem is hosting Christians from the Middle East -- men and women who acknowledge their redemption by the blood of Yeshua the Messiah and who are determined to live together by the Holy Spirit. The nations represented at this gathering include Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia and Iran. Yes, that's right.
The first half of Isaiah is filled with judgments on Israel as well as the nations around her. The words of warning and woe are often punctuated with promises filled with hope, mercy and grace. Isaiah 19 is such a word. The last three verses of chapter 19 are rather stunning.