At the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s personal envoy to the Middle East, Canon Andrew White, Dr. R.T. Kendall was asked to visit Baghdad and preach in the Presidential Palace of the former President Sadam Hussein. On this same trip, it was arranged for R.T. to visit Yasser Arafat and witness to him about Jesus Christ. As on a previous visit with Arafat, Dr. Kendall explained that he did not go as a politician but as a disciple of Jesus Christ. His motive was to share the gospel with Arafat and bring him to salvation.” Dr. Kendall explains:
“Dear Charles and Laurie, As I write these lines I am sitting on the balcony of the Mount Zion Hotel in Jerusalem, overlooking the Mount of Olives. While it is fresh on my mind I wanted to put down verbatim my conversation with Yasser Arafat which took place at noon today (November 20th 2003) ... At our first visit (last year), Ramallah was surrounded by Israeli tanks and troops; we had to go through several check points--nobody was allowed in at the time. There were no journalists or photographers, only Palestinian soldiers guarding Arafat’s compound ...
“A number of good people had lovingly warned me about seeing Arafat again. They wonder how I could do this since he is known to be a terrorist and is responsible for the deaths of so many people ... I was also warned that Yasser Arafat is a great actor--that he would know how to impress me. He could put the wool over my eyes. Most of all, that he would use me. He would use me partly by being photographed with me ... Was I to make a scene before the world and shun him before the cameras so as to protect my reputation? Never. Jesus made himself of ‘no reputation’ (Philippians 2:7). The one thing I know: I was not political. Let the world think what it will. I would know what went on inside that little room. I accept that Arafat is probably the third most hated man in the world, after Osama bin Laden and Sadam Hussein. I only know that I love him. I will not try to explain it, but I do. And yet I know that Jesus loves him more than I ever could ... My big task was to refuse to think about what I would say. This is because Jesus said that when we testify before kings and governors we should take no thought what we should say but that at the very moment it ‘would be given what to say, for it will not be your speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you’ (Matthew 10:19-20).
“The moment came ... I reminded Arafat that, sadly, most Christians in America pray for Jews and Israelis but tend to forget Palestinians. I recounted one service after another in which the Holy Spirit came down as I preached and how people openly wept--some fell to the floor sobbing in repentance that it never occurred to them to pray for Palestinians, not tp mention Yasser Arafat ... I reminded him that I myself have prayed for him thousands of times ... ‘Rais, there is something I want you to think about’, I continued. ‘It has been revealed to me that Jesus Christ is very important to you.’ ‘Very, very important’, he replied. I knew this to be true but it was the first time my information was verified by the Rais himself ... I knew that Arafat had dreams about Jesus. But was there more?
