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He used to 'blow up churches' but now he follows the 'Prince of Peace'
It was during a live show being broadcast in Arabic from Alkarma TV's studios in Southern California, when a phone call came in from the Middle East in which the man on the line made a startling confession."I used to blow up churches and now I want to pray to receive Jesus Christ as my Savior," he said.
Soon, he was praying the "Sinner's Prayer" with one of the volunteers with this unique Christian television station which broadcasts the Good News of Jesus Christ 24/7, including six hours live to the Middle East via The Healing Channel.
"We get so many calls from the Arabic-speaking people who watch Alkarma TV, especially from the Middle East, who watch our programs and say that this was the first time they had heard the message of Jesus' love for them," said Samuel, an Egyptian-born Christian who, along with his wife Mona, began Alkarma TV some four years ago.
"We are seeing thousands call in each month and pray to receive Christ into their lives. Many call in from dangerous countries where you are not even allowed to have a Bible and you cannot preach inside their country. But we can go there via satellite. It is quite amazing."Nick VujicicI recently attended a live program when 25-year-old Nick Vujicic, who was born in Australia without any arms or legs, took questions from Arabic viewers around the world, mainly from the Middle East, during a two-hour show relayed to the Middle East via The Healing Channel. Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic who runs Joni and Friends, also joined them by phone.
A total of 259 calls were received by the viewers and only a few could be dealt with on air, so Alkarma TV staff dealt with many of them and prayed with the callers, some of who wanted to receive Christ.
Mona, who also comes from Cairo like her husband, told me in an interview that many of the callers for this particular program were disabled.
"We had so many different callers during Nick's show including several from Egypt and one of them was telling me over the phone that her sister was about to commit suicide because she was disabled and was so devastated, but she said that Nick's words had encouraged her and she wanted to talk to Nick so we had her go on the air," she said. "She was crying and said that God touched her sister's life and instead of committing suicide, she now had hope that there was somebody else that had a worse case than her [Nick] and yet God was using him."
Mona says that the Alkarma staff receives so many calls during the live shows that they can't get to all of them because there is not enough staff or lines."We are constantly praying with callers who wanted to accept Jesus into their heart and then they ask for a Bible, which are happy to send them. We often also send them an Arabic version of the JESUS FILM."This dedicated couple first began the TV station on October 15, 2005, which they launched out of their three-car garage in Southern California. By the way, Alkarma means "The Vineyard" in Arabic. It was America's first 24/7 Arabic Christian TV channel.
Eventually, they moved to larger studios, funded by their Arabic-speaking viewers, but Mona then said that their present studios are just "bursting at the seams" and soon they are going to need larger facilities.
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