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Former terrorist turned Christian commends servicemen and women at local church

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-former-terrorist-speaks-church,0,3756730.story

Former terrorist turned Christian commends servicemen and women at local church

WTKR-TV3

Virginia Beach, Va. – A former member of a terrorist group converted to Christianity spoke from a Virginia Beach pulpit tonight.

Walid Shoebat left his Muslim faith after years of being a known terrorist.

“The Quran clearly says this is arabic which means, if they leave the faith, then find them and kill them,” Shoebat said.

Shoebat was born in Bethlehem and raised in a culture that denounced Israeli or American.

As a young man he joined the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, and participated in acts of terror against Israel.

“I started graffiti on the walls, demonstrations on the street. Ended up in prison. It mushrooms, it evolves, I ended up planting a bomb in a bank,” Shoebat said.

Shortly after Shoebat ended up in the United States, he continued his involvement with the terrorist support network.

But when he met his wife and asked her to convert to Islam she challenged him to read the Bible. He says it opened him up to a whole new world.

“After so many years living in America I developed critical thinking. So I began to think for myself and I began to realize that I was on the wrong side.”

Shoebat began practicing Christianity. But, he told the congregation at Calvary Assembly of God in Virginia Beach, that the drastic change did not come without sacrifice.

“All my property in the Middle East has been confiscated. I don’t speak to my brother, I don’t speak to my sister in Saudi Arabia. I don’t speak to any of my family. They’ve all abandoned me, they all denounced me.”

Now the former terrorist fights against the very lifestyle he used to hold.

But now Shoebat says he gained a new family and new freedom in a country he’s grown to love.

“I was asked the question, how can we combat terrorism? I said the best method that I know is to convert the Islamic terrorists to Christianity.”

Shoebat took time to pray for our service men and women and commend the job that they’re doing in the Middle East.

” Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, we removed that Saddam Hussein, that tyrant. We have a duty now to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people deserve to see the American way of life.”

He hopes the country continues to support our troops in their fight to protect basic human rights and freedoms – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

“I’m in this country, I love this country, and I enjoy the freedom and I want to keep preserving this freedom so my children can enjoy this freedom.”

Copyright © 2010, WTKR-TV

Click Here To View the Video at Shoebat.com: http://shoebat.org/videos/walidWTKR.php

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