Christians vs. Crusaders

One of my favorite podcasts I listen to every week in the sermon from Grace Church, Overland Park, Kansas. Yesterday, their guest speaker was a man called Tass Saada who happens to be the father of one of the church pastors, Ben Abu Saada.

Tass Saada is a former Muslim PLO Sniper and author of the upcoming book "Once an Arafat Man," scheduled for release in September. Yesterday, he spent a little time talking about his past as it related to his upbringing and his life in the Arab world including in the Gaza Strip. Primarily, he spoke of his journey and how he was brought to accept Jesus Christ as his saviour.

To me, one of the surprising statements, that he made was that he didn't like the word "Christian" because to him and other Arabs it brings thoughts of the Crusaders. He prefers to be called "a follower of Christ."

Even after all these centuries Arabs still think and talk about the Crusades. This actually hit home and explained a lot of the "bad feelings" Arabs have toward Christians. If you aren't familiar with the Crusades you should watch more History Channel. Another source of an example of Crusader behavior is James Patterson's book the Jester. Although a work of fiction there is some pretty accurate descriptions of work of the Crusaders.

It doesn't take a lot of study to figure out that the Crusaders were pretty ruthless in the name of God. So many of these men played right into the hands of the Pope to become Crusaders. They were told they were on a mission for God and the murdering committed by them was sanctioned by God when in reality it was sanctioned by the Pope.

Anyway, Jester is a good book worth reading and I can't wait for Once An Arafat Man to come out!