BAGHDAD, Iraq — Jonah was a young soldier when he was captured by the Iranians in 1981 during the Iran-Iraq war and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp. There he requested – and received – a Bible via the Red Cross.

During his years in prison he read it from cover to cover several times. He said later that the words of Scripture kept him sane through those terrible years. Moved from camp to camp, he nevertheless managed to keep his Bible with him.

One night after reading it he replaced it in the cloth bag he had to protect it and hung the bag on a nail in the wall above his bed. That night there was a violent earthquake and the prisoners all scrambled to get out of the prison building. Jonah just escaped before the building collapsed.

Still standing

After a while he ventured back to search for his Bible. Only one part of the building was still standing and that was the wall next to his bed. And there, hanging from the nail in the wall just as he had left it, was his Bible.

Jonah felt strongly that God had prevented the wall from collapsing on him; he had honoured Jonah’s faithfulness by preserving the wall where his Word hung.

During those years prisoners from other religious backgrounds often asked Jonah if they could read his Bible. Realising they were hungry for the truth, from time to time Jonah would lend it to them. At least ten of them said their lives had changed through reading it and that they now followed Christ.

One of his fellows told him he had met Jesus in a dream and his life had been changed. He now felt he had to tell others about Jesus. Jonah warned him to be careful, but the young man was very enthusiastic and began to talk about Jesus and to share his testimony with everyone.

Torture

Before long the young prisoner was taken off for questioning and became a victim of frequent beatings and torture. The guards told him his only chance of survival was to renounce his new faith and return to his former religion. Jonah could do nothing to stop the torture but he continued to pray for him – and despite all that he suffered the young man did not renounce his new faith.

After ten years as a prisoner of war Jonah was freed and returned to Iraq. Despite losing the best years of his life, he was not bitter.

Another test to his faith came when his first son was killed by a car. Jonah said that he felt then there was a hole in his heart that could never be filled. But in the depths of tragedy he sought comfort once again in the Scriptures.

Something different

People who meet Jonah soon find that there is something different about him: he has an aura of peace that makes them want to talk to him. And all he wants to do is to share with others the message of peace and hope found in the Bible. Whenever he can he introduces people to the Word of God.