November 8, 2025

The Green Prince: Fact or Fiction?

The eldest son of one of the co-founders of Hamas, a devout Palestinian Muslim, an enthusiastic supporter of resistance against Israeli occupation in the West Bank, a political prisoner turned spy for Israel, a convert to Christianity, a recipient of asylum in the United States, author and conference speaker. Sounds like it could be a best-selling book—because it is, a 2010 autobiography fittingly entitled, “Son of Hamas,” that rose to #11 on the New York Times hardcover non-fiction list.

It is the true story of Mosab Hassan Yousef who despite his familial ties to the ideology and governance of Hamas in the West Bank became disillusioned after observing the organization’s violent tactics and internal corruption. For ten years he worked for Shin Bet, Israel’s top security agency under the code name, the Green Prince, a reference to the color of the flag of Hamas and to his being the son of a high-ranking Hamas leader. Israel has since credited Yousef’s intelligence with saving hundreds of lives, both Israeli and Palestinian.

Around the age of twenty, while working with Christian tourists in the West Bank, one of them handed him a New Testament, which he began reading secretly. Profoundly affected by Matthew 5:44 in particular in which Jesus commanded his disciples to love one’s enemies and to pray for those who persecute you, Yousef began quietly attending Bible studies in Jerusalem led by Messianic Jews and foreign missionaries, and at the age of 27 he entered the waters of baptism in Tel Aviv.

If you would like to learn more, you’ll find a suspenseful 2014 documentary about his life on YouTube, entitled, “The Green Prince.” Never underestimate the power of sharing God’s Word with anyone.

Daniel McCabe

Trivia

By now you probably know that the Hebrew language is written from right to left, but how do Hebrew speakers write a math equation?

A. 3 + 5 = 8, left to right, just like written English
B. 8 = 5 + 3, right to left, just like written Hebrew
C. Both are common and acceptable.

Watching Jesus Pray, part 2

(Luke 22:39-46)

What do we learn about prayer from watching Jesus pray the night before he was crucified?

I. Prayer was a habit for him (vs. 39-41).

a. Did you notice that little phrase in v. 39, “as He was accustomed”? For him prayer wasn’t hit and miss. It was a habit for him to pray.

Is prayer a habit for you? Everyone has habits. Good ones and bad ones. Here’s a good one. If you will pray once a day for 30 days, then there’s a good chance you’ll pray once a day for the next 30 years.

b. Also, notice the phrase, “coming out,” in v. 39. Jesus got away from the people and the noise of the big city. He found a quiet place where people weren’t asking him questions or begging for miracles. He separated himself from pressures and responsibilities so that he could talk to his Father.

Find a time when you can get away from your spouse, your children, the TV, your phone and the computer. Slow down long enough in your day to pray. It wouldn’t be hard to argue that Jesus had more important responsibilities than you and me, yet he always found time to pray.

c. This passage also tells us in v. 40 that “He came to the place.” Apparently he came to the same place to pray over and over again. Maybe he found one particular olive tree that he enjoyed sitting beside or a flat rock that he could stretch out on, but he regularly returned to this exact spot to meet God.

Meet God wherever you want. Your back porch, your bedroom, the living room recliner, your office cubicle over lunch or the side of your baby’s crib when he or she is taking a nap. Find “your” place.

d. Not only did Jesus get away from all the activity of his ministry to a familiar place, but he went there alone. In v. 41 we read, “And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw.” He loved the company of his disciples, but he didn’t always want them around when he prayed.

Pray before the kids wake up or after they go to bed. Same with your spouse or parents. Find some “you and God” time. Men, I hope you are leading your wives in prayer at meals or during a separate Bible reading time, but don’t substitute that for the time that you need to be alone with God.

–Daniel McCabe

“The Guardians of the City,” part 3

On Location: The Neighborhood of Mea Shearim–

Inside the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim you may meet or observe members of Neturei Karta (Aramaic for “Guardians of the City”), a small Jewish sect founded in 1935, which opposes any involvement in the Zionist movement and has never recognized Israel as a legitimate Jewish state. This group believes that a Jewish state should only be established by the Messiah and that it is illegal otherwise to take or maintain the Holy Land by force. Therefore, they don’t publicly support any form of confrontation with the Arab people. In fact, they blame atheistic ideology within Zionism for provoking the wars fought in the region since the formation of Israel, so in solidarity with Arab nations you’ll see Palestinian flags flown above or painted on their homes or businesses. You’ll also notice a lot of anti-Israel graffiti. Neturei Karta accuses the secular founders of Zionism of self-serving political decisions during World War 2, even suggesting controversially that the Zionists prioritized their own nationalistic agenda over the loss of many Jewish lives in the Holocaust. Due to their poverty the Neturei Karta (along with other ultra-Orthodox groups) pay little or no income tax, and they receive exemptions from military service.

–Daniel McCabe

Bibliology – The Canonicity of Scripture, part 5

Let’s talk briefly about canonicity, meaning how we settled on the books that we have in our Bibles today. A lot could be said about this. There’s even a whole field of study that covers how we got both the Old and the New Testament, and it’s a fascinating study. Here I’ll be addressing the books of both the Old and New Testament as reflected in the Protestant canon, according to the Western tradition.

There are sixty-six such canonical books which cover Genesis through Revelation. They weren’t determined to be canonical by the judgment of any one individual, and it’s not like the early church councils simply picked and chose whatever book they wanted in the Bible. That’s how the skeptics often characterize it, “They were censoring information, and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, for example, didn’t make it in the canon due to political pressures.” But that’s not how it worked. The books that we have were recognized as canonical due to their divinely inspired origin. The early church councils came together and said, “We know this was written by an apostle. We know Paul’s letter to the Romans definitely should be in the canon of Scripture. We recognize that the Spirit used Paul to write this letter.” Faithful people came together and discerned what was truly Scripture.

The early church was familiar with the Old Testament. In fact, it was the Bible that Jesus and the apostles used, and so the New Testament books were recognized as Scripture in large part due to their agreement with the Old Testament. Indeed, the New Testament helps us understand the Old Testament, and the Old Testament’s meaning did not change. Jesus and the apostles didn’t come along and change anything. The Old Testament has always meant what it meant, and it still means what it meant, and then the New Testament provided additional revelation that the early church councils soon recognized as Scripture. They didn’t pick and choose, but instead recognized what books were canonical due to their divinely inspired origin.

It’s worth mentioning too that apocryphal works, such as 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Judith, and Tobit, are not divinely inspired and thus should not be considered canonical. I think they’re good reads and we should know what’s in them, for they do have value. We can certainly learn from them, but they are not divinely inspired.

Finally, let me add that no additional works should be added to the canon of Scripture, regardless of authorship. I hold to a closed canon. Even if we were to theoretically discover another letter by Paul, one to the church of Laodicea, for example, I don’t think it should be added to the canon in part because it’s the writings that are inspired, not the author. Admittedly, I would certainly read it if we found it, for surely it would offer wisdom and good guidance, but I would not see it on the same authoritative, biblical level as Romans and Galatians.

So, this completes our look into the main points of the theology of bibliology. I hope that you’ve enjoyed this series as much as I have.

–Adam Keim

Name That Fruit!

I have two more for you today.

1. It looks somewhat like a small, pear-shaped apricot with a hard brown pit at its center. When ripe its fuzzy skin can easily be peeled off and the fruit split in two. You can even eat the peel if you like. It’s high in Vitamin A, fiber, potassium and manganese, and it has a tangy sweet taste.

2. It looks like a giant green grapefruit, but It’s often sold in Israeli grocery stores pre-packaged, peeled and segmented. It has a very thick pith, and some say it tastes like a grapefruit, though sweeter, milder and minus the tang of citrus.

–Daniel McCabe

Answer to the Trivia

A. 3 + 5 = 8, left to right, just like written English

Answer to “Name That Fruit”