Sid: Have I got a show for you; what is the classic One New Man? Now you know that I get that from the book of Ephesians in which that it said that “Yeshua (that’s Hebrew for Jesus) came to break down the middle wall of separation between Jew and Gentile to form One New Man in Him. Now, what is the classic definition of the One New Man? I believe a Jew and an Arab with every bit of enmity taken down and the two become a brand new creation in Yeshua called the Body of Messiah. And I have on the telephone a Palestinian. His name is Akef Tayem that had an extraordinary experience and I want to get to know him better, and I want you to get to know him better. Akef you were born in one of my favorite cities in Israel, in Haifa, Israel. You were born a year or so before Israel became a nation. You’re a Palestinian Arab; tell me about the family you were born into. What did they do for a living? What was their life like?
Akef: Alright, of course I was born in Haifa like you said. My father was a very wealthy individual; he was a merchant; he owned a plantation. He raised… we had a farm; a very large farm producing oranges, grapes also but the main product was oranges. The main place he exported the oranges were Britain and Europe a little bit. And he had 6 children at the time before I was born, I was the 7th child. He was well respected in the community; he was a Muslim of course and he attended mosque and…
Sid: Now in America we have what’s called Christianity and some are practicing and some are nominal but they call themselves Christians. Your father was an observant Muslim.
Akef: Yes, I recall time and time again seeing him and my mother and my oldest brother, my oldest sisters performing the prayer on the mat. They would put it on the floor and perform the prayer as ordered by the Koran daily five times a day.
Sid: And just out of curiosity did your father want one of his children to be an Imam, you know a Muslim cleric or no?
Akef: I don’t recall that, but the usually in a family, that would be something desirable that the father would want at least one of his sons to be an Imam.
Sid: Now why did your family move to the Island of Cypress?
Akef: Well, it was in ’48 of course the partition, the Balfour Declaration. And Haifa which is where our home was was in the part that belonged to the new state of Israel.
Sid: So did your father who was obviously very prosperous did you lose your property?
Akef: Yes, we lost our property and of course we had a choice to stay in Israel.
Sid: If you would have stayed would you have been able to keep your property?
Akef: I doubt that, I don’t know; I really don’t know.
Sid: See, I’ve been told that the ones that stayed could keep it but I wasn’t there; you were that’s why I’m asking, but you were just a baby almost.
Akef: Yes, I did here conversations later on with my…you know as I grew up a little bit. And I think you have a point; we could have if we became subject to the new established State. Just like many Palestinians have stayed, there is I believe over a million Palestinians; Israeli Palestinians. But I think that what I understand the main reason that my family left was the concern of 6 very young children. Matter of fact my name Akef means standing. And the way it came about is my mom when I would hear guns and bombs going off I would freeze, I would just stand up. And mom would say “Go and get the guy whose standing; bring him in the house so. But I think that it was the fear of the war that…
Sid: Now were you raised being subject to a great deal of anti-Semitism within your school, within your parent’s conversation, within your friends conversation?
Akef: No, not at school Sid because when we went to Cyprus of course; that’s Greek Island; it was then, it was partitioned later on between Greeks and Turks. But when we went there is was a Greek Island. And there was…
Sid: So I understand not the school but how about at home and friends?
Akef: Very much, very very much.
Sid: Did you… tell me as best you understand. Did you have a hatred in your heart towards the Jew?
Akef: Of course, of course everyone, everyone every especially Palestinian whose been displaced. I mean that’s all we hear; that’s all I heard growing up.
Sid: Now you must have been a pretty bright person because here you are in Cypress and you get a scholarship to attend a University in the United States. How did that happen?
Akef: Well, actually all my brothers have.
Sid: My goodness you’ve got some good genes.
Akef: We all have my oldest brother; actually he deserves most of the credit. He didn’t even have a chance to go to school when we went to Cyprus. He taught himself English, and he was the first to get a scholarship to Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.
Sid: Hmm.
Akef: Then my other brother got a scholarship in England. And then my next brother the third got a scholarship in West Fairfield, Ohio. So that’s one thing my dad made sure we had a good education and thank God we did go to the best school. And we learned English, of course, we were very close to a British base.
Sid: Now when you were in the United States you met a Christian girl and she was telling you about her belief. And one day she started talking about miracles and healing. Why did this get you so upset?
Akef: Well, I just did not… two things you associate Christianity with Judaism for one thing. With Jews which is another thing to a Palestinian.
Sid: I wish more Jews would have associate Christianity with Jews, but go ahead. (Laughing)
Akef: So that’s one thing that perturbed me a little bit. The thought of this evangelist and this greater God than Mohammed’s god and Islam’s god who can perform miracles.
Sid: Well did you see miracles within Islam? Forget what people told you did you ever see any?
Akef: No, no it doesn’t even exist.
Sid: Really?
Akef: I mean you go to a mosque it’s beyond your comprehension these lies that you see in America where people come and they get prayed for and they come to be ministered.
Sid: Yes.
Akef: And that does not exist in a mosque.
Sid: So let me ask you a question. Why I the world would you go see a tent evangelist that’s supposed to have miracles if you don’t even believe in them?
Akef: Well it was me and a few students, we really went down there to ridicule the guy. I didn’t go believing. We thought, I thought, that he was a shyster. I mean…
Sid: You want to expose him.
Akef: Well, actually I don’t know if I had that the power or I had the means to expose him. What I wanted to do was get my girlfriend to where she’d stop talking about this and she’d leave me alone. If you can show that he’s just a fake then she’d get off my back so to speak.
Sid: Okay, now was this actually a tent meeting?
Akef: Yes.
Sid: Alright, and you go into the tent. And did you sit in the back or in the front row?
Akef: Well, we were about the middle.
Sid: Okay, and tell me what your first reactions were from what you saw.
Akef: Well, it was so different than what I’m used to. To me that was not a church in any way. It was more like a circus.
Sid: A circus! (Laughing)
Akef: People were dressed, especially the woman. I mean it was short dresses some of them and extreme makeup. You never see that in a mosque, you know they’re covered and actually you can’t even tell there’s a lady under all of that covering. So… and then of course the drums, the guitars. It was more of a showmanship thing.
Sid: Were you getting angry?
Akef: Well I was wondering how someone can perform, can do this in the name of God. In other words to me it was sacrilegious. We are taught growing up as Muslims to be very, very respectful of God, very respectful of God. You just don’t do these things in front of God or in the House of God.
Sid: So the time of reckoning comes, a time for a miracle. What did you do?
Akef: Well, you know of course they had people in wheelchairs; there was a person on a stretcher. And I remember the first miracle as far as he’s concerned and the crowd was concerned was a lady in a wheelchair.
Sid: Akef we’re out of time we’ll pick up right here on tomorrow’s broadcast. Mishpochah, this is so wonderful what God is going to do to Akef. But we’ll tell you on tomorrow’s broadcast. But I’ve asked Akef to go beyond the 5 days with me so we’ll have his full testimony and then the most brilliant apologetics I have ever seen anywhere and I’ve interviewed a number of Muslims that have had experiences with Jesus but I have never seen these apologetics before. I just pray that every Muslim in the world get’s a hold of this.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth